What to do when a friend is self-harming?

You're a good friend to care and try to help, but honestly there is nothing you can do in the end if your friend refuses help. I used to self harm and I know quite a few people who also have/still do. In my experience, most people tend to shut down or even get snappy when confronted about it. I'm not sure why, but when it comes down to it all, people make their own decisions. You could possibly tell them its very worrying to know they are doing that and that there are much healthier ways of coping.

In my opinion, a lot of teenagers so through a self harming phase. Probably more than 50% of the people I know have self harmed at some point, so if you guys are teenagers it could just be a short term coping method for whatever is going on for your friend. That being said, its still not healthy.

You could let the parents know, however your friend might get mad at you. Do you know if the parents are the type to be supportive or not? That is something you should consider. Maybe you could tell the parents not to tell them that you were the one who told? Just let them know you're concerned and felt they should know?

/r/depression Thread