Self Mutilation, Self Injury, Self Harm...Cutting...your thoughts and questions...?
Question:
I am just curious if anyone understands that self injury is not always for attention in most cases.
People use self injury as a coping mechanism.
It's something that is not new (as it seems with this new and disgusting "emo" phase that kids go through these days) it has been going on for a very long time.
I'm curious, do you ALL think that we, as cutters ALL do this looking for attention?
I am 20, have been doing this for 8 1/2 yrs. And only 1 person found out - 6 months ago - my BEST friend. and I told my little sister the other day.
OUT OF 8 YEARS.
Now tell me - you really think it's for attention?
I'm really curious on these reponses.
Thank you...
Oh - and if ANYONE has questions about it...don't hesitate to email me!! I don't mind informing people of this ongoing problem and condition amongst people between the ages of 11 and 27...
Answers:
i am 44 years old; when i was 8 years old, i started cutting myself. i never did it for "attention" but i did it all the time, so it was noticed .
i cut myself up until i was 30, when i lacerated my ulna artery and almost died. i quit then because the doctor i had was a jerk, and i never wanted to deal with anyone like him again.
i still never knew what the cause was; i knew i thought it had to do with letting out pain.
then on this past mothers day it was shown to me; an epiphany of sorts...i was going through some really bad emotional pain w/ my daughter and i had depression real bad and i basically shut down. i couldn't do anything.
then a friend said she knew what would make me feel better; a guy in her apartments was a tatoo artist and she would pay for me to get a tatoo.
i already have 7 or 8 of them on various areas of my person, so i am no stranger to tatoos. but i got this one on my NECK and it was the most painful tatoo i ever had done.
but i felt alive and invigorated after and it was a really good feeling as i recall. i figured out that why we cut is this...
any PHYSICAL pain is easier to deal with and better than the pain we feel from the emotional damage inflicted on us by our loved ones.
it is that simple.
Other Answers:
I have a cousin that does the same thing. No, it's not for attention. U need help, & ur tired of being hurt.
please stop you can get sick by doing that kind of stuff
coping mechanism?? try smoking a cigarette, or drink a beer like normal people do.
i understand that not everyone does it for attention but everyone ive met did it for attention, cuz yeah i understand its a coping mech... my boyfriend did it for alittle bit, i think it was partly to cope and partly for attention from me. he said he was scared cuz he liked doing it. but he hasnt since we talked it out. but yea n e ways everyone else has cut themselves then showed everyone. which is stupid. i hope youre able to find another way to cope have you ever thought of a therapist not saying that you need one just wondering since its been over 8 years
It is something that you need to talk to Jesus and God to find out what you need to do about your problem and I think that you need to stop doing it because what ever the reason is Jesus is a better answer
I know it is a coping mechanism, and I am glad you are trying to help people, but have you found help? Have you found a better way to cope? If not, please do!
you are certainly drawing attention to it now.
I used to be a self harmer when I was in my 20s. I used to do it as a way of releasing pressure that I felt I couldn't release any other way. I eventually got help and don't self harm any more.
I never did it for attention. Like you said, people use it as a coping mechanism. Looking back now I see self harming as something that I had to do at the time to stop myself going crazy.
I just learned to outgrow the need to harm myself and found other more constructive ways to release pressure like working out.
Please e-mail me or Instant Message me if you want to talk.
people who cut then show it to others because they think its cool and its the "in" thing to do, do it just for attention and they disgust me. i understand completely why people do it and they do it for lots of different reasons, but behind every real cutter there is always an emotional phychological reason for it and until people have been there themselves they will never truly understand it no matter how much you try to explain it. cutting is a very personal thing that to the cutter is theirs only so no i don't think its just for attention and i know so too.
all the best to you and if you ever feel like your ready to stop feel free to e-mail me anytime if you want any advice
Look I am 45. Sorry but I needed to anwer your question. I was diagnosed with Bipolar 18 months ago.
I know what you are talking about concerning self mutilation. I have cut myself with knives and glass. I do certainly not do it for attention. The weird thing is when I do cut myself , I do not feel any pain. Until my mind is back to normal.
I am wondering if you have mood swings and also do you think of suicide........From experience this all scary and quite frankly I do not understand Mental Illness. I am probably still in denial. But sweetie go and get help. As you get older and more problems develop things could get worse for you.
Please seek help.
Kim
Hi i use to do it. Just for not feeling pain inside. Ten Townsend times on the skin rather in my heart. steel feel the pain inside i just forgot for a while.
so i guess the best thing to do is therapy or something like that
I have been cutting myself for almost 6 years. When I started cutting I was a freshman in high school and am now 20. I regret every cut I make and every time it makes me want to do more because I think of how much of an idiot I am for doing it. I wish that I had never made that first cut that made it so addictive. And I hate that one of my best friends has followed in my footsteps. She is much younger and I feel like such a jerk for not being a better example. Some people are bound to know and a few of my friends do know but I will only talk about it with 2 of my friends. One being my husband and the other being my younger friend that I mentioned before. I usually just brush it off and say its nothing and then change the subject. Yes there are people who do this for attention but I am not one of them and I would say that most aren't. Some people think that this is a bad way of coping with stress and other emotions that we don't know how to express. But the truth is... it's not. For a lot of people who self harm, this is keeping them alive. Thank you for letting me say this I have never said this to anyone it felt good.
ive done it too, many times. its a coping mechinism. helps come with pain. nobody knew i did it for years and years. i personally think if u have ocd habbits u may be more prone to it...due to lack of ability to deal with surrounding situations....like pulling hair, picking at skin..its becomes a habbit which is hard to stop over time.
I haven't been doing it as long as you, but it's still aggrevating, when a person tells you you're just doing it for attention and you're "emo" and all that other bologna.
Cutting has been around for thousands of years. It's in the Bible. Tribes in Africa and I'm sure other areas did it as a cleansing or if someone died. But in recent years it's just viewed as a trend because so many people do it. Although I don't consider it a trend, it's the people that can't understand pain, the people that can't understand the fact that inflicting oneself with physical pain might just make the emotional pain and hurt go away. It's the people that have no problems in life that can't understand issues like these. But then they're the same ones that don't know how to handle anything.
I certainly as hell am not doing it for attention.
I cut myself. I've told my parents, my bff, and the guidence councelor, but that's only because I want help. People don't look at me as they do others. They almost seem afriad of me, or they tease me.
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