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When you hurt yourself to cope
For people in the United States who hurt themselves on purpose, or feel the urge to, and for the people who love them. Who answers, at any hour, by text or by phone. What self-harm is, and what it isn’t. Why people do it. Getting through an urge. Looking after an injury. Telling someone. Seeing a doctor or therapist, and the treatment that helps. Stopping, and what to do about slips. What families and friends can do. And the words to say when you call. No lectures, and no detail of any method. One thing at a time.
Right now
- Thinking about ending your life, or in danger? Call or text 988, at any hour. A serious injury, or a medical emergency: 911.
- Want to hurt yourself right now? Text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line, any hour, free), or call or text 988. You don’t have to be suicidal to use either.
- Already hurt? MedlinePlus says to call 911 if bleeding is severe or cannot be stopped. If you swallowed something or took too much of a medicine: Poison Control, 1-800-222-1222, or 911.
- There is real hope in the facts. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, says the urge to self-harm isn’t uncommon, and that many overcome it with treatment.
More help
- An urge right now? Ride the urge, Breathe and ground and Cool down.
- For the bad nights? A safety plan and a hope box.
- Keeping track, privately? The mood log and a daily check-in.
- Seeing a doctor soon? Appointment prep and Low-cost care.
- Something underneath it? When eating has become a fight, When drinking or drugs are the problem, When the past won’t stay in the past, After sexual assault, When home isn’t safe, Grief, Feeling alone.
- Worried about someone? When you’re worried about someone.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 1, 2026: MedlinePlus, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine (Self-Harm; Cuts and puncture wounds; Burns); SAMHSA, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (its Self-Harm page) and FindTreatment.gov; the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (Help for Mental Illnesses); NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (its self-harm page, HelpLine and Teen & Young Adult HelpLine); Crisis Text Line (its home and self-harm pages); Mental Health America (its self-injury page); The Trevor Project; Poison Control (poison.org); Cornell University’s Self-Injury & Recovery Resources (front and resources pages only); and the 988 Lifeline. NAMI, Crisis Text Line, Mental Health America, The Trevor Project and Poison Control are private organisations describing their own services, and the page says whose words it is passing on. We did not call or text any line or contact any provider. We did not read the research behind any therapy, the Institute’s pages on medications, anything on scars, emergency room practice or cost, what insurance covers, any state’s rules on what a counselor or doctor must tell a parent, the guides for parents that MedlinePlus and Cornell point to, or the National Center for PTSD’s page on self-harm and trauma. On purpose, this page does not list or describe ways people hurt themselves, and gives no numbers about injuries. Many lines are our own suggestions, most of “Getting through an urge” among them, and the page marks them as ours. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a treatment provider or a government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].