Celebrity Self-Injury

Recently newspapers reported that Lindsay Lohan had scratches on her arm and there were "concerns she is a victim of self harm." The headline was "Self harm fears over Lindsay's scars." Another article said that she was "accused of being a cutter." I realize that people want the latest celebrity gossip and that any news will sell. Maybe it's more of a witchhunt. One that wants to out Lindsay as a cutter.

But there is another issue with these statements. There is already a huge stigma surrounding self injury. Calling someone a "victim of self-harm" makes it sound like it's something that happened to them. And accusing someone of self-injury just reinforces the stigma and makes it sound like it's the worst thing you could do.

Plastering pictures of what may (or may not) be self-inflicted scars has no positive benefit. It just reinforces the shame a self-injurer feels. But for someone that is young and impressionable it can also lead someone to choose self-injury. After all celebrities are role models and people will mimic their behaviour. Plus the pictures are sensationable and can be triggering for people that do self-injure.

My question... who cares? Maybe she fell in the bushes as has been claimed or maybe she really does cut herself. It is none of our business. At the end of the day Lindsay Lohan is a person and whatever she needs to do to cope should be her decision. Plastering photos in numerous newspapers and across the internet does not help. *If* she is cutting herself then what she needs is support and help to find better ways of coping and to deal with what is the reason behind it.

Having said that... there are worse things that she could be doing. Now sometimes self injury is a symptom of a mental disorder and that definitely should be examined. Self-injury is typically a controlled response used to regain balance when things feel out of control. In some cases it is to prevent suicide from becoming an option... Society seems to have the idea that it's linked to suicide but it's almost the opposite. It's about regaining control. All I can say, as someone that is all too familiar with self injury (and can't even imagine having pictures of my cuts plastered all over) leave her be!