Self Harm and Eating Disorders

As we approach Self Harm Awareness Day 2025 on Saturday 1st March, our colleague Alice Robbins looks at the connection between self harm and eating disorders.

NICE defines self harm as ‘an intentional act of self-poisoning or self-injury, irrespective of the motivation or apparent purpose of the act, and is an expression of emotional distress.’¹

According to the NHS, an eating disorder is defined as ‘a mental health condition where you[one] use[s] the control of food to cope with feelings and other situations.’²

Eating disorders and self harm have a high comorbidity rate and we can see a clear overlap in these behaviours, although they are distinctly different. Both can be a coping mechanism, a self-punishment, a way to induce feelings, a method of communication and so many other things. In a UK-based research study among 16 and 24 year olds, almost two-thirds of 16-year-old females, and two-in-five 24-year old males who self harmed also reported some form of disordered eating.³ Additionally, suicide is the leading cause of death for those with anorexia nervosa. ⁴

Those who struggle with both disordered eating and self harm commonly ‘display tendencies towards body dissatisfaction, impulsivity, low self-esteem, feelings of emptiness and cognitive distortions or self-criticism.’⁵ It is also suggested that they share risk factors; for example: impulsivity, emotion dysregulation and dissociation⁶.

Similarly to self harm, eating disorders can be highly stigmatised and dismissed as ‘attention seeking’ or ‘melodramatic’, when in reality someone is in acute distress and trying to communicate that things are painful for them. Self harming and eating disorder behaviours can often interplay and bounce off one another. Binge eating can lead to extreme guilt and frustration, and then to self harm to try to deal with these feelings. Or self harming might be a way of inducing feelings when someone is restricting their intake and feeling numb. They can overlap in countless different ways.

Therefore, it is important for us to adapt our support based on an individual’s needs. In the case of someone with a co-existing eating disorder, certain grounding and coping strategies may be at best ineffective, and at worst, damaging. For example: focusing intensely on the taste and texture of a piece of food, a common grounding and mindfulness exercise, might be an incredibly intense and upsetting experience. The coping technique of eating a comfort meal could actually be very uncomfortable for them. Being directed by a clinician to simply be active or go for a run could easily escalate into enabling excessive exercise.

In the support that someone is offered here at Harmless, we offer person-centered approaches, so that the interventions we offer are fully informed and supportive.


For further eating disorder support, please refer to Beat Eating Disorders.

If you or someone you know needs support for self harm, please contact us.

For further information on Self Harm Awareness Day 2025, please click here.