This is definitely and interesting subject, and there are some gray areas indeed. I would not consider contact sports, piercings, and tatoos as self harm. However, I could see how any one of these, if done in the extreme, might be considered as such.

It ended up taking nearly a full year to heal, when it should have taken just a few weeks at most. I think she might have picked at it on occasion. And she never went to the doctor about it. So bizarre to me. And I don't relate I guess.

I don't know anyone who "cuts" per se, but I do know a couple of people who seem to deliberately do (or not do) things that end up causing their flesh and bones considerable harm.

I think this could branch anywhere from anorexia and eating disorders, to refusing to take medicine the Dr. requires for a certain ailment.

Cuts and bruises are unsightly. I wonder if some people want to harm themselves "under the radar" so to speak....

I met one gal who had this huge canker on her hand that was pre-cancerous. She was on medicaid and could have easily had it looked at. She was educated, but not able to work at that time due to health problems. And this lesion on her hand looked worse every time I saw her. She refused to have it looked at, and came up with really inadequate excuses as to why. She refrained from wrapping or treating it, and instead let it go exposed to the elements when it should have been covered and balmed. She went about almost like she was flaunting the wound -- not so much like she wanted attention for it, but like she was PROUD of it.

Most of the people in her life are "care-taker" kind of people. I guess she might garner some sympathy for her wounds. I don't know? It was just so foreign to me to have so much pride in such a terrible sore. I might have been embarrassed by it and done everything I could to fix it.

In a way, I look at this as a kind of self harm -- neglecting to take care of something that could easily have been helped.