Self-Harm

Last night went from bad to horrible in a matter of minutes. Bad, because my annoying housemate had two guests staying over despite it being against the lockdown rules. And, the three of them were making their presence felt. The noise woke me up around 3:00 am and after lying in bed for about one hour debating whether I should say something, I got out of bed, and told my housemate to make less noise. A few minutes later, one of her angry friends knocked on my door to say that I had upset Betty and she had slashed her wrists. My jaw hit the floor, but I had the presence of mind to get my phone and start recording our conversation. My main point was all I had done was tell her to make less noise. On camera, the angry friend became noticeably less angry. She said her piece and then the second friend, who was more sedate, came forward. but, that was not all. Betty came last and showed me her bloodied forearms (not lboodied wrists, mind). At that moment, all the sleep flew out of my eyes. I went back inside my room and shut the door, stunned by the accusation that I was the reason she harmed herself. My anxiety symptoms came roaring back, and I resigned myself to lying awake in bed until sunrise. how does one deal with a person who threatens to self-harm and, indeed, self-harms at the drop of a hat?

Mentally ill people are of two types--imploders and exploders. I am definitely an imploder, although I don't consider myself mentally ill any longer, and so are my friends. Betty is definitely an exploder. She makes sure the world knows her mental health is poor, and she make those around feel some of her pain. Attention-seeking personalities with mental health issues are difficult to be around. All one can do is minimize contact with them as much as possible. And, if that means, silently suffering past one's threshold, that is a small price to pay for not being in the path of an explosion.