I tried to find a forum that was most appropriate for this topic

Hopefully this topic is appropriate for this forum. I want to bring up a sensitive topic, I was involved in a conversation about it in another forum and I was hoping to discuss it with a group of more open minded people.
The topic is this: People who self-mutilate. What I mean by that is people who cut themselves as some sort of coping method to deal with pain or depression. I find this topic really interesting because I feel that I can relate with some of the motivations I think people who cut themselves have. I think most people tend to be very judemental about this topic because there are a lot of attention seeking people who cut themselves for no other reason than to gain attention for it. (Mostly teenagers just coming into highschool.) But, there are people who cut themselves as a way of coping with something(something being pain or depression I'd guess). Being an extremely introverted individual, I tend to think that people who do this are trying to express some sort of feeling through harming themselves. Also, if you think about when you get depressed, I mean really depressed, not just bummed out, you do things to yourself that are self destructive. You stop eating, stop sleeping, do things to harm yourself. It's sort of a natural instinct. I tend to think that it's your mind trying to kill your body, but maybe that's a little drastic. Maybe cutting is just an extreme form of a natural instinct. What do you guys think?

 

i do it to cope, I cant explain the feeling I get from it

 

Do you know why you do it?

 

I used to do it, but it wasnt for attention because i covered them up and didnt let people see them. I cant describe the feeling I got. It helped though, i know that.

 

I used to masterbate until it hurt when i was stressed. I don't like bleeding. I guess there's different strokes for different folks.

 

While I haven't personally done it, I do know of people who do it or have done it. From what I've heard from my friends, it sounds like some are using the physical pain to deal with or cover up any emotional pain they're going through. That's just one theory that may apply to some, not all.

 

it sort of relieves the emotional pain..

 

I don't do it for attention, I try to cover the scars. But in a weird way I am proud of them. There's nothing like the feeling I get when I drag the razor across my skin. Every part of my body tingles then there is a wonderful release when I see the bright blood burst out of the thin red line. Cutting myself pacifies me in a way that alot of people would think is disgusting, but I only do it when I'm REALLY depressed...which isn't very often.

 

it feels great to hear people feel the same as me. ive never cut myself till recently, when i do it i still feel depressed, but when i look at the cuts i get a weird feeling, as the last person said, you kind of feel proud of the cuts, i used to just think it was people looking for attention, but im not thinking of anyone else when im doing it and i dont show ANYONE so i suppose its like escapism really, its your only little secret that you can have to get away from everything thats troubling you

 

i cut myself and few other things to hurt myself. the last time i cut myself was because i was having problems with my parents (they caught me smoking pot and about fuckin killed me...) if i dont cut myself, i'd punch a wall until my knuckle bleeds. I didnt do it for attention, i had to let my anger out, so i did it to myself so i wouldnt have to hurt anyone else, physically or emotionally. I hid the scars, wore pants all summer long(i cut my legs, arms is too risky, they'll be seen) the only person that knew that i did this (well till now i guess) was my boyfriend, and he found them by accident. i felt bad when he saw them, cuz he kept asking why i did it and felt scared for me. i do kinda think its that our mind is trying to kill our body, human nature can be self destructive. it is human nature to hurt ourselves or even kill ourselves if we choose to or if we feel like it.

well theres my thoughts...

 

I did it briefly years ago. Just on my wrists. Never too deep, I didn't like the pain, but I was really depressed and just toying with the idea of death. I would sit there in my locked room and think "If I just pushed a little harder, then lied here, they would never discover me before it's too late." I think I also kinda did it for attention. I mean I would cover them, but if anyone saw I'd make sure to give a lame excuse, like my cat scratched me, and then they would give concerned looks. I liked the concerned looks. I've grown since then though....


One of my friends did it too, but I don't think he was really depressed at all, he was a very lively person and he was quite open about it. If someone asked him about it, he'd just start talking aboutit like a normal conversation. It was weird. I never found out why he did it, I think he just thought it was interesting, or it was like an endurance thing.....

 

I think it has to do with feelings of self worth.

 

Self mutilation/self harm...it's quite an interesting issue i have to say.
Severe depression is unexplicable...some people need to resort to such extremes to be able to cope with it.
I've suffered from depression but never to that extent. I've done other things that even though dont leave visible scars, have left emotinal consequences. It's all comes from my impulsive behavour and insecurity.
But i tend to agree with what you said, perhaps harming ourselves when feeling depressed is just a natural instinct, something that comes out from our interior...feeling so small, that nothing matters, not even your body...

 

In my opinion, its just a phase. How often do you see adults cut themselves for the same reasons teenagers do? Well, they take Zanex, and prozak and crap instead... both pretty bad for you.

 

Can you elaborate on that?

 

As a release from stress ofhe world and some do it simply cause they can control the cutting and the bleeding when they cant control anything else in thier life. Also its been said the bio-chemical reaction you feel when you cut is similar to the feeling of getting off during sex..........bleed on.

 

Where the hell did you read/hear this bullshit!? Everytime I ACCIDENTALLY get cut, I say "ow" and get a band-aide. I don't feel any "release of stress". And being in control of how much blood you lose, especially from a vain is pretty hard. And you know, when your older your going to look back at when you used to cut yourself and say to yourself "what was I thinking!?". And everyone will know you as "the kid that cuts him/herself" when they see all the fuckin' scars, and you don't want this avoidable problem in the future. Everytime you feel like cutting yourself, smoke a joint, ride a bike, even fuckin' donate to the republican party!!! anything is better than self-mutilation.

 

Well, my husband was 28 when he stopped cutting himself. I don't think it's a "phase". Sure, it might be more prevalent in teens because of the emotions and hormones, but it can afflict anyone at any age.

To all you who are cutters, please be careful. The worst one my husband got was when he cut his arm with a broken glass and had to get 20 stitches. He has a scar running down the length of his forearm. He's okay now, hasn't cut for about 3 years. He explained it as the physical pain masks the emotional pain. I could never really understand...we got together at the end of his cutting, so I wasn't with him when he was doing it...but I never judged or looked down on him. I'd like to think that I helped him, since he doesn't do it anymore.

 

Cutting almost ruined my life. My parents hated me. At first I did it because I was upset and needed a way to get rid of my anger. The first time I did it, it was because of my parents. I couldn't talk to them, because they wouldn't listen; so I took it out on myself. I liked it. It started as just a way to vent when I was REALLY upset, but then it got to where I couldn't wait to get home from school everyday, just so I could cut. It made me feel better.


Later, I learned that I could control people with it. If I didn't get my way, I'd go cut myself so they would feel bad about hurting me. That's when it got really out of control.

I went to a mental ward for a while. They diagnosed me with Bipolar Disorder (among other things) and put me on a ton of medications. And in short, I haven't cut in over a year or so.

If anyone has questions they can PM me. And to the cutters out there, I found that pouring my hands full of salt and holding an ice cube helped me somewhat. It's something you may want to try.

 

Reading your posts I feel terrible, and I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
I also feel bad because theres nothing I can say because I've never been deeply depressed, bummed out, but never to the point of self mutilation. I really hope you find some help. I know a guy whos entire left hand had to be removed because of cutting and the lack of blood flow.
I really hope that you find away out of the pit. Best wishes to you all.
~Matt