How long you have been self harming ...

[Amyxoxo]

**** So, I must warn you now that I don't mean to judge people nor offend people by this post. It is just something that has been pondering on my mind for a while now. ****

So I am kind of back. Many people wont remember me I haven't been on here for a while but anyway ...

I have noticed that many post that are on sites like this and youtube a vast majority have been posed by people how have been self harming for like a week. They complain that this is such a hard life to lead and that they just cant help themselves and they think about it all day everyday!

I mean is it just me but I don't understand how someone could feel like this and why they would be on site like this saying how hard they have it?

When you self harm you make a conscious decision to do so. It isn't like an eating disorder or something because you decide when you are going to start and stop as well. If someone is saying all of this when they have only been doing it for a very short amount of time then I personally don't believe that they are doing it for the "right reasons" and are doing it for attention.

What I don't understand if why something would tell their friends like the first night that they have ever done it. Now I know that some people may just be like this but from personal experience I know that a lot of people need to keep this quiet and they have been doing it for years even in some cases decades yet people will come along and start telling people that day.

I just was curious so I am not really going to listen to the people who aren't answering my question however just slagging me off.
I don't know if I have actually said my point but ... hay ho
Amy :) x

[georgiamay]

I remember you! :D

Anyways, I see where you're coming from, and I kind of agree with you... I personally don't think people who have only been self harming for a week are "addicted" but to feel desperate enough to turn to self harm in the first place must be a sign that something is wrong. They must feel pretty depressed/anxious/angry to self harm at all, even if it is just once of twice, but I do agree that people that say "OMG, I self harmed for the first time last night and now I want to do it again it's so hard!" are exaggerating.

And as for those that tell their friends after the first time they self harm, maybe it is a cry for help for them. But isn't it a cry for help for all of us? It's our escape route, and if someone came along and said they'd take it all away, we'd let them. That's what self harm does for us. Maybe they tell their friends because they want them to know that they're really not happy, and that they need some support.

I don't think it's right for us to say that one person has worse problems than someone else, especially if we're just basing that on how long or how badly they've self harmed, some people have been through some serious shit and haven't ever felt the need to hurt themselves, but other people do. Everyone reacts to things in different ways, and everyone finds different ways of coping.

I completely understand what you're saying about over exaggerating, but that doesn't mean they don't have problems.

Anyways, it's nice to have you back :D

[Amyxoxo]

Glad someone does :)

I understand that. I know that you shouldn't judge people from the severity of cuts and scars but yeah, I just don't get it O.o

Amy :) x

[PoseidonX43]

i started about a half of a 1 month... and my little brother and my parents are like why the fuck you doing this to yourself... and im getting called emo fag.. and all that shit.

~TFO

[Magenta]

Nine years in various ways.

[AlmostHomeless]

(...)When you self harm you make a conscious decision to do so.(...)
Not exactly true. I wake up with new cuts a lot. I've been cutting since elementary school. I think it's been 6 or 7 years. I can't pin it exactly. In elementary school I would find random cuts. It wasn't until middle school that I fully understood where the cuts came from. I never made a conscious decision.

[anonymous53]

About 6 years. As to the conscious decision thing, the first time I ever cut I had actually blacked out and "came to" with the cuts.

[Amaryllis]

Since I was 10? 6, maybe, if you count biting, nail-digging and head banging.

[Alexis goes Rawr]

cutting only a few months but self harm in general 4+ years that i can remember

[AppealToReason]

Cutting for a year.

[xdancing_for_rainx]

I've been doing things like cutting, burning, etc for maybe a little over three years. Though I've had tendencies to do things like pick at my skin or mess with wounds before then.

[Dark_Desires]

10 years i think could be longer.I have to agree with what the OP said

[ackmedsgirl666]

i have been cutting since i was 15 and i am now 18 so a while i guess
i do it over litttle things sometimes bigger
idk what comes over me.. i find i wake up and i have cuts so i think its my multiple alters that harm me and then i dont remember. they have been getting me into alot of trouble lately

[Weeping]

I cut for the first time 4 years ago.

[Jupiter]

Never cut, and I hope to keep it that way. I just wanted to let anyone know who cares... I helped someone stop cutting.. so hit me up if you need to talk.

[NobodysCupOf Tea]

about a year now..

[xDarkAngelx]

10 years i think could be longer.I have to agree with what the OP said

You started when you were five?

Erm, about 1 year roughly I think but since june this year i've been doing it everyday. I'm suprised I didin't start SH a lot sooner

[LittlePaperStars]

4, nearly 5 months :/ I'm recovering though! :D

[ShadowGirl]

I started in Novemer 2010

[Ambrosia]

I cut for the first time in 2006. I became a Self-Harmer in 2007.

In all honesty, it is a decision that we make all on our own. But it isn't that easy to just up and stop. I have never told anyone that I do this just out of the blue, the only way they find out is if they ask or see or if I plan on being intimate with them and they will have to see my scars/cuts. It's not something I want people to know about.

[ryantombs]

about2 and a half months but im trying to stop because of everyone on here telling me and helping me

[xcheer]

About a year. But i cut from when i was 15 to 17 and just went back a year ago now I'm 19.

[StrawberryCyanide]

I've been self-injuring for 7 years.