Self harm is essentially identical to any other addiction. Human brain development is stressed during infancy due to either proximal abandonment/outright abuse/denial of attention. Infants who suffer these stressors naturally seek out pleasure and fulfillment in something, as humanity is a highly emotional and sensitive species, and when they find it the brain is hardwired to "go back to the well" so to speak. If the body is conditioned to find pleasure and compulsively engage it, then self harm is just an expression of this epigenetic adaptive trait. Early developmental environment determines why a person hurts themselves. It is a cry for attention, but just not as people usually see it.
People who suffer from addictions are virtually all abuse as children, and their ideas of the world are that it is cold and callous, to avoid intimate relationships, not to trust caregivers and see the world as an unsafe place. The implicit memories of infants evolve into needing to find that acceptance somewhere, be it self harm, drugs, sex, power, money, etc. Self harm is a sign of a child coming to terms with how harsh they perceive the world to be. Gratification is addictive to these people because they have been seeking it without avail since birth.
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