After pausing a moment to reflect on her experience, she said, “I’ve gotten a lot of that.”

The three students said they have had different levels of success at hiding their behavior.

Many self-injurers face the task of hiding scars on a daily basis, taking care not to show a certain arm or to go out with long sleeves.

“A couple of people notice, but I just kind of made up an excuse for it,” Elizabeth said. “It’s something people don’t really talk about or want to know.”

While two of the self-injurers firmly stated that nobody notices, Anna said she thinks her peers have seen her scars.

“I noticed people never asked about them [the scars],” Anna said. “I just thought people were oblivious or stupid and didn’t notice—that was until I had someone ask a friend of mine about the scars.” She shifted back in her chair for a moment. “It’s not that people didn’t notice but that they were not comfortable asking.”

Nearly a quarter of self-injuring students stated in the November study that nobody knew of their behavior, with only about 17 percent of those in therapy disclosing their self-harm to a health practitioner.

GETTING HELP

The University tries to address the issue of self-injury in a number of ways, hosting freshman workshops focused on case studies and suicide prevention training for student groups. A number of peer counseling groups offer their services on campus, including Room 13. Next term, a member of Harvard’s Student Mental Health Liaisons hopes to begin an educational campaign on self-harm, according to Barreira. Furthermore, students can seek counseling from University Health Services or the Bureau of Study Council.

For a number of reasons, students can be reluctant to seek help.

“Students’ concerns about how their friends, roommates and others will react to knowing that they have engaged in self-injury does hinder students’ willingness to seek help,” Barreira wrote.

John went off campus for help, fearing that he might get asked to take a leave of absence if he spoke to Harvard officials.

“There is a lot of mystery to what degree of seeking help will result in being asked to leave campus,” John said.

Barreira wrote that the University does not have a blanket policy for students who come forward with self-harm related issues.

“Any decision about a student leaving campus is an individual decision based on unique circumstances of the student and is done in consultation between the students’ treaters (if there are any), the student, and the college,” Barreira wrote.