The needs of adolescent girls who self-harm.

People who self-harm are typically intelligent, adolescent or young adult, middle to upper class girls, who do so to feel something or, paradoxically, to stop feeling and calm down. Girls who self-harm need to feel understood, listened to non-judgmentally, and responded to in relation to the unspoken suffering behind the self-harm behavior. The aim of treatment of girls who self-harm is to facilitate understanding of the act and provide alternative, healthier coping strategies.