A PP used the phrase "needless self inflicted harm".
It made me think.
When you feel pain, and you express that pain, but no-one listens, no-one addresses the cause of that pain, no matter how reasonably you state your case or ask nicely for support or understanding, it will find a way out.
Society is so keen to keep things peaceful and orderly for the majority, and to protect the system, the economy etc - the real benefits of which are usually engineered for a small group who claim falsely that anyone can access them if they just follow a prescribed formula - that when some of the majority realise they are being sold a pup and complain and are brushed aside as just "not living / thinking right" eventually unrest will erupt and self harm is the result alongside some small feeling of having expressed oneself.
You see it all the time in threads about abusive relationships - "You picked the wrong man / woman". In work related situations it is up to the office scapegoat to figure out a way to beat the person victimising them and retain the high ground. Complex emotional situations are turned on the person asking for advice - retain the moral high ground, think about things from the other persons point of view, with little analysis of why such behaviour from abusive people is tolerated and should be worked round rather than confronted.
Another PP mentioned the similarity to being in an abusive relationship where people are poked to the point of no return, respond in kind and are then blamed for not doing things differently.
If you over eat, drink to excess, gamble, are a drug addict or actually self-harm, it appears needless - you can just change, get therapy bla bla bla. But it's an expression of trauma. On a systemic level, there exists a huge cognitive dissonance. Politicians promise that things will change, ask for help from "the community" and then renege on their promises regularly, expecting the community to understand and be patient - it's always jam tomorrow and conditional on more and more one sided compliance.
In a moment of extreme pain and anger and fear, lashing out, even when you know the consequences will be bad for oneself and the wider community is a human response to trauma.
If you have never felt the fear and pain of an injustice against which you are powerless no matter how you behave, you are very lucky