Garbage singer Shirley Manson has penned an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times today, detailing her history of self-harm from her late-teens through adulthood. She wrote the article to raise awareness of self-harm by telling her story.  You can read an excerpt of the article below.

“I didn’t know I was a cutter until the first time I chose to cut. I didn’t even know it was a “thing.”

I had never heard the phrase “self-harm” back then, in the mid-80s in Scotland. There were no support groups for people like me or any progressive, sympathetic op-ed pieces about the practice of cutting in my local newspaper. It was something I came to naturally, privately, covertly. I didn’t tell a soul about it.

It was a secret. A secret that was mine to keep.

I was in my late teens, darkly in love with someone who wasn’t in love with me. I was having sex with multiple partners, experimenting with drugs and drinking copious, alarming amounts of alcohol. I would often fall foul of crushing depression, struggling to get out of my bed before 4 in the afternoon. Having flunked out of school, I had no set future in mind.

I was holding down a mindless part-time job at a teen fashion store, playing keyboards in a band more or less on the weekends and generally feeling pretty miserable about my lot in life.”

You can read the rest of the article here:

If you are self-harming, or anyone you know needs help, call the S.A.F.E. Alternatives information line at 1-800-DONTCUT or visit selfinjury.com for additional resources.