I know what you mean. Two years ago it was an alternative to suicide for me also. It got me locked up, but it also was was the jump-start, or shock maybe, that I needed to make some changes in my life and get onto a better path.

Like other coping mechanisms, there is generally a healthy reason why we start doing this. It's an attempt at self-preservation. But that doesn't mean that we couldn't find more effective ways to cope. When we keep using destructive coping methods then it becomes more detrimental to us than helpful.