ABSTRACT
The term self-harm refers to any deliberately enacted behaviour that is intended to physically harm oneself, no matter how slight the intended injury (Dear, 2001, derived from O’Carroll et al., 1996). Self-harm can be enacted without any degree of suicidal intent or with at least some degree of suicidal intent. It can result in no injury, non-fatal injuries, or death. Suicide (with intent and resulting in death) and suicide attempt (with intent but with non-fatal outcome) are therefore clearly defined as subcategories of self-harm, but it is imprecise and misleading to refer to all self-harming behaviour as attempted suicide.
