How to Use self-harm in a Sentence

self-harm

noun
  • About a quarter of the orders arose from threats of self-harm.
    — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Jan. 2024
  • Clark turned to self-harm in an effort to treat herself.
    — Kaitlyn Pohly, Hartford Courant, 7 Aug. 2024
  • Still, in his world as in our own, the question of harm, and self-harm, is a serious one.
    — Jesse Green, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2023
  • One man is in prison, while another is a girl wrestling with thoughts of self-harm.
    — Rachel Desantis, Peoplemag, 5 Apr. 2023
  • But most would not be able to and would be at risk of substance abuse, self-harm or suicide.
    — Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 10 Sep. 2023
  • But some of these measures would also do some self-harm to the country.
    — ArsTechnica, 5 June 2025
  • Crews are upgrading the area of the jail that holds prisoners deemed to be at risk of self-harm.
    — Clifford Ward, Chicago Tribune, 23 May 2025
  • Her vision is to keep youth out of gangs and to keep veterans safe from self-harm.
    — Emmett Hall, Sun Sentinel, 24 Mar. 2023
  • Suicidal ideation refers to thoughts of self-harm and suicide.
    — Carrie Madormo, Rn, Health, 6 July 2024
  • There were troughs, like thoughts of self-harm and, later, suicide attempts.
    — Eli Cahan, The New Republic, 10 July 2023
  • Social media use has been linked to self-harm in some cases.
    — Leah A. Plunkett, The Conversation, 31 Jan. 2025
  • Black Sabbath was so dark, so unholy, that the band’s songs inspired murders and self-harm.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 22 July 2025
  • Help for thoughts of self-harm can be obtained by calling the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 988.
    — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 31 May 2024
  • While most of the shootings involved assaults or self-harm, some were accidents, like Aaron's seemed to be.
    — Stephanie Colombini, NPR, 18 Apr. 2024
  • When she was admitted to the jail, she had briefly been placed in a safety cell, without access to items that could be used for self-harm.
    — Christopher Damien, Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2024
  • During the interview, Pauley asked Meghan about her decision to open up about her own thoughts of self-harm.
    — Stephanie Petit, Peoplemag, 4 Aug. 2024
  • Severe postpartum depression can lead to thoughts of self-harm and harm to the baby.
    — Dr. Esther Zusstone, ABC News, 20 Nov. 2024
  • There have been no reports of self-harm nor any violence toward prison staff.
    — Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 13 Dec. 2024
  • Violence and self-harm on the wing is lower than in other areas of the jail, and staff morale has also increased.
    — Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, theweek, 26 Sep. 2024
  • What drives people at the elite level to suffer to the point of self-harm, permanent impairment or worse?
    — Tim Genske, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
  • Without the proper treatment, people like Merit are at risk of self-harm.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 14 Mar. 2024
  • Research shows clergy suffer from high rates of burnout and often struggle with thoughts of suicide and self-harm.
    — Katia Riddle, NPR, 23 Mar. 2025
  • There were no gendarmes on Trump’s tail, no threat of violence or self-harm, no real suspense.
    — Paul Farhi, Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2023
  • The state found that one boy had to be taken to a hospital for self-harming after the ranch failed to give him his medication for 26 days.
    — Tyler Kingkade, NBC News, 21 Sep. 2023
  • Suicide: when someone takes their own life in an intentional act of self-harm.
    — Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2024
  • An acute change in mood that persists for weeks or is associated with thoughts of self-harm should not be ignored.
    — John Williamson, Fortune Well, 2 Mar. 2023
  • This may have led to some of the many incidents of self-harm or suicide among Korean performers.
    — Patrick Frater, Variety, 9 Sep. 2024
  • As a teen, the Pitch Perfect actress struggled with anorexia, depression, and self-harm for nearly a decade.
    — Grace Gavilanes, Peoplemag, 1 May 2023
  • There are also instances of how AI has given users self-harm instructions, as reported by The Atlantic.
    — Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
  • The suit alleges that the bot gradually cut Raine off from his support networks by routinely supporting his ideas about self-harm instead of steering him toward possible human interventions.
    — Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 26 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'self-harm.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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