i need some oppinions

Satan's Kitten

i dont know if this is the right place to ask bout this stuff, but its the only place i know really. i want oppinions on self-harming. u know cuttin urself and stuff like that. i know what i think about it and i know what ppl who do it or did it think about it, but i wanna know what everyone else thinks. i know its a bad question, but i need to know what ppl think bout this stuff.

its something that effects more irish ppl than u'd think.

thanks

Is1ldur

I don't know too much about it, so feel free to disregard what I think. I visit another forum, The Black Metal Board, for people into black metal, and there was a post by a guy a while back showing pictures of the injuries he had inflicted upon himself. Quite a few of them had been through it and found it very difficult to give up. The guy who posted the pictures had managed to give up but said it was very addictive. It seems stupid to people that are not into it. Myself, I am a bit too squeamish and don't like pain, so I have not partaken, but I would say it reflects something seriously wrong at a deeper level.

Satan's Kitten

thats what everyone thinks, its a physical manifestation of an inner problem, but i dont have any inner problem. it is addictive tho and if done wrong can be very dangerous. alot of ppl know how to do it, with clean blade or whatever and disinfect wounds, i've been told that ppl who know how to be careful and arent have a subconsious wish to do more damage to themselves and at times are suicidal.

thanks for sharing ur thoughts on the subject

Repli

it's not normal i think u are doing it to look for attention
otherwise u would not have posted it on public forums
go to a doctor

Satan's Kitten

yeah i cut myself cuz its a good way to get noticed, c'mon be realistic. this isnt about me wantin attention. i have seen doctors and they make me feel worse. and i posted this cuz its easier to tak to strangers than ppl i care bout cuz i dont have to watch what i say to ppl i dont know.:mad:

STaN

can i ask, why do u cut yourself? Do u get a rush or something from it? Its something ive never understood.

And where does it all come from, trend wise?

Satan's Kitten

i dont know what u mean by 'trend wise' i dont get a rush off it no. i guess maybe it serves as a release of a kind, i'm not sure why i do it, just that i do.

i regreting starting this now, but i just wanted to know what ppl who arent effected by this think bout it.

Is1ldur

Are you happy, Satan's Kitten. I don't mean just now, but in general, are you a happy person? Do you have a good life?

Satan's Kitten

sometimes i am. other times im borederline suicidal. i depends on alota stuff. i'm startin to think i may be suffering from an eatin disorder cuz i only eat at the most 1 proper meal a day, but im probably not and i just have a bad appetite. sometimes i think i'm happy, i have good friends and a great boyfriend, but then i get depressed and worry if maybe my friends only put up wit me cuz they gotta and that i dont care bout my boyfriend as much as he does bout me! also my bestfriend brought something to my attention a while back, when im around my hyperactive giddy pals i get like that, all bubly, but i dont stay that way for long. i tend to addopt the personality of those around me. ledin me wonder if i even know myself.
any1 have any idea what i mean?

ThrAx

Seb, I love you loads an' all, but I really think you should stop that. The other night when that cut opened up again I was nearly sick to my stomach. I really do hate it and I know it serves you as a release of a kind, but I really wish you would stop hurting yourself.

Satan's Kitten

if it were that simple i would

papashiv0

Something tells me that you are searching for attention satan's kitten. If you were cutting yourself for 'pleasure' or as some type release I doubt you'd be sharing it with this many ppl. Cutting yourself like that is something you will regret. Those scars will haunt you in later life, you'll look back and think of how mindless it was to hurt yourself in an attepmt to solve lifes trivial problems. Boyfriends and friends alike come and go. You need to be happy within yourself. Everyone has there own sh!t and they deal with it in their own way, you need to find a less emotionally desrtuctive way to vent your frustration and perhaps to grow up a little.

thedrowner

i dont approve of it, i think its a painful and haunting way of dealing with problems, but sometimes its all that people know. maybe you need to seek proffessional help to deal with it, its better sorting the problems out now then leaving them till later.

Hobnail Monkey

I did it for a while back about 2-3 years ago. I used to put gashes on my thighs, lower abdomen and chest. Why I did it?? Y'see, I've got really bad acne (or at least I did have) and I hated my body with such an intensity that I just wanted to hurt myself all the time. A few more scars wouldn't matter much, would they? I didn't mind the pain or the sight of my blood or anything, but nor did I get a rush or enjoy it. I was just my frustration at having a skin condition that I couldn't handle, and the fact that each day it felt like my body was rebelling against me. When I look back, it does seem a little deranged, but then again, I've always had anger management issues (to put it mildly)...this temper didn't help much, I can remember that there were times I'd put a razor against my stomach and start to run it across and then I'd just get a rush of annoyance or frustration and really dig a hole into myself. What did I gain out of my experience - a realisation that this self-destructive behaviour wasn't doing me any good, and a bunch of horrible looking scars on my body (along with the one's the acne caused). I've since gone on Roaccutane (an experience in itself, I'll tell you) and I should be off them in November some time. They are working, albeit slowly, but in time I should look.....ok. To poke some humour into the situation, if I can, I've got a bunch of scars on my chest that looks like the star constellation The Plough (how Ironic considering it was my ploughing with a razor that did it).
So, if you want my opinion, then here it is:
DON'T DO IT, IT SOLVES NOTHING.
There are many many people out in this world who will try to hurt you - don't add your own name to that list.

Clintons Cat

to be honest,if your cutting your self but not recieving any kind of masocistic pleasure from it,its probally a problem of underlying self loathing or helplessness ,do you feel empowered when you cut yourself? as if it is the only thing you feel you have control over?Does your cutting occur on a regular basis or infrequently follow a pattern?If you can isolate a pattern to your behaviour you can probally begin to break the cycle of abuse,but you have to be honest with yourself try to look beyond the cause/effect to try to find out what it is that motivates you to act the way you do.
I dont think posting here will help you much,i would if i were you seek out counselling through your GP,
Please stop doing it,those scar are disfiguring and could become infected and lead to blood poisoning which could prove fatal.

SOL

If you don't have problems then why do you need to cut yourself? </lecture of usual stuff>
I would suggest smiling but i'm really not one for helpful advice,

LegacyUser

There was quite an excellent and balanced article in Bizzare magazine, last issue I think (but don't quote me on that) about self-cutting, why it's done, and the various groups available for various kinds of support - from therapy to encouragement groups. You might find it interesting.

AFAIK, you can view some articles on their website, or email them for specific articles.

Hope that helps

hedgetrimmer

sorry..that last post was by me..had to delete cookies, so didn;t log in again

Dave

Originally posted by SOL

I would suggest smiling but i'm really not one for helpful advice,

Because that will make everything better?

I suggest you get proper counselling. The people on these boards aren't even remotely qualified to deal with these issues. Granted the might get you to type what your feeling, and telling people online might help you on the road to recovery marginally. But you do need proper qualified counselling. It may be a hard first step to take, but in the long run it will help easse the apparent emotional trouble you're going through.

eth0_

I used to cut myself between the ages of about 14-16
At first It was down to quite severe depression, mostly because my parents had made me move from Belfast to the Republic and I found it hard to fit in at first.
After that, It was more because I like the feeling I get when I cut myself, although I haven't found the need to do it in quite a long time. I was never the type to do it with a razor or a compass....I used to steal scalpels from the science labs in college and steralize them so I was always clean and never had suicide on my mind....

WhiteWashMan

teenage girls are more than likely to cut themselves in an attempt to get attention.
its not just a few, its quiet a high percentage.
its not uncommon, and yes it is attention seeking, even if you dont believe it to be so.

try talking to someone next time, its easier, and a lot less painful and will probably not leave you feeling very confused and fúcked up about why you did it.

if you say you dont have an attention problem then i think you have not looked hard enough. the fact that you would put it up here leads me to believe the same.
sorry, but thats the way it is....

eth0_

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan
teenage girls are more than likely to cut themselves in an attempt to get attention.
its not just a few, its quiet a high percentage.
its not uncommon, and yes it is attention seeking, even if you dont believe it to be so.

Way to go, stating the obvious, self harm is a cry for help. I agree with you about some kids just doing it for attention in the bad sense of the word though.
I never cut myself for attention, no one ever saw, and I never showed it off.

Even when I was just doing it for ****s'n'giggles, I never did it anywhere someone would SEE.

So I don't think I was in need of attention.

And I posted here because I don't have a problem with telling people I used to cut myself. There's a variety of reasons people might take a knife to themselves for, hey, it can even be a sexual fetish, it's not always the 16 year old hoodied korn 'fan' sitting in her bedroom feeling sorry for herself.

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by eth0_


Way to go, stating the obvious, self harm is a cry for help. I agree with you about some kids just doing it for attention in the bad sense of the word though.
I never cut myself for attention, no one ever saw, and I never showed it off.

Even when I was just doing it for ****s'n'giggles, I never did it anywhere someone would SEE.

So I don't think I was in need of attention.

And I posted here because I don't have a problem with telling people I used to cut myself. There's a variety of reasons people might take a knife to themselves for, hey, it can even be a sexual fetish, it's not always the 16 year old hoodied korn 'fan' sitting in her bedroom feeling sorry for herself.

well, if its not a cry for help and you go and cut yourself up then you have serious fúcking problems, and i would rather you didnt sit near me in the pub whilst in possesion of a steak knife.

eth0_

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan


well, if its not a cry for help and you go and cut yourself up then you have serious fúcking problems, and i would rather you didnt sit near me in the pub whilst in possesion of a steak knife.

Aww, such compassion and understanding, little camper. Now I know why you're not a PI mod.

I like the feeling != Cry for help
I haven't done it in nearly three years. It was a cry for help perhaps at the start because I was feeling depressed, but in later years it was unconnected to any malevolent feelings.

And I certainly wouldn't KNIFE someone, if that's what you're suggesting.

The Sweeper

The PI board fascinates me sometimes, with what people think...

If you inflict harm voluntarily on yourself, there is an underlying issue. It may or may not be a cry for help, but it is certainly an indication that you are not happy.

When I was in my very early teens, I was pretty miserable for a number of reasons which I'm not going to go into, but those weren't happy times. I felt really bad about myself. I didn't hate myself, I never have, but I couldn't understand why the things that were happening to me were happening.

I started to cut myself - sometimes where people could see easily if I felt like showing them (forearms, shoulders, lower legs) sometimes not (tops of thighs, stomach). My tools of preference were a scissors and a compass. Thankfully I was too chicken to take a razor blade to my body and subsequently have no scars to speak of - I have the occasional pale patch on my skin, but 12 years on they hardly show up.

Looking back now I understand why I did it, but back then I could no more explain the reasoning that made me take the point of a scissors to my arms than I could stop doing it.

Damaging my skin made me feel better, because it left me with a physical injury that I felt justified how miserable I was. I couldn't bear being in emotional pain because I didn't feel able to share that verbally with anyone, and through sporting an injury I felt better - I could get the sympathy I wanted if I showed it to people, and if I didn't feel like displaying it at least I felt that there was a reason I felt so bad.

I never got help, I grew out of it myself, things changed, got better, I learned to communicate with people through talking to them instead of trying to look injured, vulnerable and wounded so they would come to me and be nice to me.

I think we're far better equipped to deal with physical pain than emotional distress - when we hurt our bodies, adrenalin kicks in to give us a rush and block the pain. We have few chemical defenses against emotional distress, even though it can make us feel just as bad. Hence for me a self-inflicted physical injury reflected the distress I was in.

I'm glad the original poster didn't ask for advice, because for once I don't have any to offer. I don't think seeing a counsellor would have helped me back then, it was something I've only grown to understand with age.

I can tell you one thing with 100% certainty though.

If you cut yourself, it isn't normal. Even if it's common, it isn't normal. Dont try fooling yourself for a second - if you were happy, you wouldn't be damaging yourself.

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by eth0_


Aww, such compassion and understanding, little camper. Now I know why you're not a PI mod.

I like the feeling != Cry for help
I haven't done it in nearly three years. It was a cry for help perhaps at the start because I was feeling depressed, but in later years it was unconnected to any malevolent feelings.

And I certainly wouldn't KNIFE someone, if that's what you're suggesting.

it has nothing to do with compassion and understanding.

so let me see, you are saying that you cut yourself becuase you enjoy it? in later years you actually cut yourself for reasons other than being depressed or anything.
why dont you make me understand why you cut yourself for fun.

i never suggested anything, but if you feel so much disregard to your own self, then who knows how much disregard you will show to someone else.

oh, and if you are going to get so easily upset instead of entering into a decent discussion, then its a good thing you arent a mod, isnt it now....

eth0_

Originally posted by Minesajackdaniels


If you cut yourself, it isn't normal. Even if it's common, it isn't normal. Dont try fooling yourself for a second - if you were happy, you wouldn't be damaging yourself.

That's true in a sense, i suppose. But I resolved the issues that made me start cutting myself. Any other time I did it, it was because I liked the feeling, It wasn't an outlet by any means.

Anyway, I grew out of it, I get my 'pain' from other sources.
Would you consider piercing/self piercing a 'cry for help' also?

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

Dave

I don't think seeing a counsellor would have helped me back then, it was something I've only grown to understand with age.

Maybe a counsellor would have helped you reach that understanding quicker? But regardless of that Satans Kitty said

other times im borederline suicidal.

If more people sought therapy/counselling maybe 415 people wouldn't commit suicide every year because of depression.


(btw i'm not pulling this whole counselling thing out of my ass, my mother is a qualified counsellor)

The Sweeper

Originally posted by Dave
Maybe a counsellor would have helped you reach that understanding quicker? But regardless of that Satans Kitty said

Yes, very possibly.

If more people sought therapy/counselling maybe 415 people wouldn't commit suicide every year because of depression.

I'm not belittling counselling, but I reckon you have to want to be helped for it to help you. I'm just saying that personally back at that stage I don't think I would have listened to a counsellor, opened up to one or seen their presence as anything other than an intrusion.

Satan's Kitten

i shouldnt have started this thread in the first place but thats me i act b4 i think. i'm just gonna pretend it aint here and walk away. that tends to be easier. tanx every1 who gave the opinions i sought. some were helpful, others not so much.