So I was pottering around on Twitter, as one does in the morning, and I came across a couple of articles about self-injury. This is something of an anomaly, as Twitter is full of games and comics and comics about games. Then I noticed that #selfharmawarenessday was trending, and so it made sense.
I released Air Pressure on this day several years ago for that reason. But that year no one seemed to talk about self-injury awareness, c’est la vie!
I think the hardest thing is getting people to see beyond the scars (or whichever other effects). Not just to the person underneath, but also the problem. It’s too easy to hand out quick fixes for self-injury – like snapping elastic bands or grabbing hold of some ice, but what’s the use in that if you’re still unhappy? Self-injury can be just a symptom, so it would be useful if it could be treated like that, and listened to as a meter of how much the injurer is suffering.
Perhaps that’s just how I am. I find it easy to accept self-injury as a symptom. It’s how I can tell that I should worry when my depression is getting dangerously bad. It’s how I can tell that my depression has gone away or is coming back. It’s something that’s either there, or not. I have no great story or technique to stopping – I just stop.
And I can accept it if it starts again.
I loved that game. The first time I played it was a few years ago, on the 1st of March. Haven’t seen anything like it since.
I feel like an idiot. When I first played Air Pressure I thought it was about drug reliance, I think I even read that interpretation in a couple of places, but it didn’t feel right. I just replayed it and now that the meaning clicks it hit me so much harder. Belated thanks for making it.
One of my favorite games of all time