Aaron spirals after Anthony’s death in Emmerdale as fans fear a self-harm relapse

Aaron Dingle is spiralling down into self harm again in Emmerdale, after the death of Anthony Fox and his guilt over what happened. Aaron thinks he killed abuser Anthony – though we’re not sure he’s the one to blame – and he’s struggling to cope.

We’ve seen Aaron return to obsessive exercising and we’ve got an inkling that he could be about to head into a self-harm nightmare.

And that’s because we’ve seen this before – more than once in fact. Fans have also noticed Aaron’s struggles, with one commenting: “I have a bad feeling that the guilt of thinking that he killed Anthony will make Aaron self–harm again.”

Another agreed: “Please no self-harm relapse for Aaron! Whatever you do Emmerdale, don’t go down that road. He’s suffered ENOUGH!”

“Aaron in self–harm mode is heartbreaking,” added one more.

Here’s the background to Aaron’s history of self-harm.

Aaron Dingle and the death of Jackson

Aaron struggled after the death of his boyfriend, Jackson. Jackson had been paralysed in an accident and wanted to end his life, despite the best efforts of his mum Hazel, and Aaron. They tried to convince Jackson that life was worth living, but in the end they couldn’t change his mind.

Due to Jackson’s injuries, he couldn’t take the drugs to end his life himself. Hazel planned to help her son, but when it came to it, she couldn’t go through with it and so Aaron was the one who gave Jackson the fatal dose.

After Jackson died, Aaron began hurting himself. He cut his hand on a gravestone, and on a razor. He deliberately banged his head on the wall, among other things.

Aaron starts to self-harm in Emmerdale after his dad returned

When Aaron first fell for Robert, it was a tricky time. Robert was engaged to Chrissie White, and their secret romance made things hard for Aaron.

But things got worse as Aaron served a short stint in prison after being wrongly accused of shooting Robert, and then he found out his mum Chas was dating his dad Gordon again.

Aaron had been raped by Gordon as a child and couldn’t handle Chas being with him. He started self-harming again, running miles until he was sick, and burning his arm with candles.

Cain found him hurting himself and offered support, but with such a lot of trauma in his life, Aaron couldn’t stop.

As he dealt with revealing Gordon’s abuse and his father going on trial, Aaron continued to self-harm.

Robert’s affair with Rebecca

Aaron hadn’t quite managed to tackle his self-harming issue, when he found out Robert had fathered a baby with his former sister-in-law, Rebecca. Seb was born in 2017, and Aaron began self-harming again.

He and Robert split and Aaron moved on briefly with Dr Alex. Though his scars made him self-conscious, Aaron managed to deal with his feelings and tell Alex the truth.

Though that relationship didn’t last, with the support of his half-sister Liv, Aaron finally managed to stop self-harming.

Is Aaron returning to self harm in Emmerdale?

Aaron’s feelings about his dad’s abuse have resurfaced since he found out the truth about what Anthony did to Ruby.

Ruby’s ordeal has stirred up Aaron’s trauma – as we saw when he attacked Anthony in the depot. And now with the guilt he’s feeling on top of everything else, even though he might not be the killer, it’s all seeming too much for him to cope with.

Could Aaron start self-harming again? Has he already started down that path? It definitely seems likely – but could new boyfriend John be the one to save him?

Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm.

Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.

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