Scars - Permanent physical memories of the past

Scars usually form after you have had an accident like tripping up over something or playing sports. Scars can even sometimes me memories of a good time like having a fun time with your friends that just ended up you having an accident but now your left with a permanent reminder of it and it makes you remember the day you were having a great laugh.

Now to the mental health illness side of things, scars don't have a good feeling to them, if they are caused by mental health issues its 99% of time because of self harm. Self harm a copying mechanism that brings short term relief to some mental illness sufferers, leaves them with permanent scars which can cause even more distress. They are reminders of what they have done to themselves and what they have gone through to get them to that point of harming them selves but it also leaves them with a nasty looking mark on there body.

This can lead to a horrible circle, they feel guilty and stupid that they have done this to their own body but also feel ugly and disgusting with these marks on their body. This extra intense negativity mixed with their mental health illness that got them to feel this low in the first place, can easily reignite the feeling of needing a relief to this internal distress, which causes them to self harm again, which restarts the circle all over again.

The circle can be broken, its the shame that needs to be addressed first, the sad thing is the sufferers often keep it all a secret and until they open up and its likley to carry on unless someone catches them or notices signs of self harm. Getting help from professionals is very important here, every sufferer of mental health copes differently and self harm isn't something to be ashamed of, its just a loud message you need to get some help. If you are reading this and you self harm, just know you are not alone and that once you get the inner courage to tell someone or a Docter, your life will only get easier and better from there.

I have self harmed a couple of times when I used drink to cope with my ocd and am left with a lot of scars on me left arm which sometimes do get me down as they don't look nice but I just remind my self how much I have been through and that I managed to keep going. Scars caused by mental health issues don't have to be reminders of you being weak, they can remind you that even though you got that low, you battled on and got better.

They are memories of you struggling and being the strongest you have ever been. You coped with the worst inner distress and you got through it by facing it and getting help.

Thanks for reading.

Stay Strong,

MHG