causes of self harming

[hayleef]

Hi everybody,
Im doing a report in college and i dont have any knowledge of self harming well not to the extent of some people. My main question is what causes people to do it. Is the main cause depression ? or is that just a stereotypical perception of self-harming?

I hope you guys dont mind sharing your stories, im here to listen and would appreciate it very much!

Thanks.

[hayleef]

Another wee question, does the thought of suicide ever creep in? or is that a completely different level of depression?

[XxNINJAxX]

Well, self harm may be triggered by a number of things. The main one would be depression but say you had a fight, got yelled at even if you are just feeling capricious it can make you want to do it. People turn to self harm as a coping method (from my experience). I've had some suicidal thoughts but people have stopped me so yea.

[Desuetude]

What I wrote in the other thread (http://www.virtualteen.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1951388&postcount=7) probably sums up my opinion of what you're asking.
Another wee question, does the thought of suicide ever creep in? or is that a completely different level of depression?
Don't get confused, suicide and self harm are completely different things. People that self harm are not always suicidal, it might actually be the minority that are, though I haven't found statistics.

For me though? Yeah, it does. I think that for some people that are suicidal self harm is a way for them to cope with everything without killing themself. I have to admit, I've been in that position quite a few times. Also, self harm doesn't always affect people with depression either. I can't say that they would be happy but I can't imagine that they would all have the mental disorder. I guess suicidal thoughts could happen to anyone, sometimes they might just be for a short time period but others could last weeks or months. Maybe this is when you might start to wonder if that person has depression.

[xDarkAngelx]

Same as Nikki, check the other thread for my answer.

Another wee question, does the thought of suicide ever creep in? or is that a completely different level of depression?

Yes, for me it has done, given that I have attempted. Same as what Nikki said really, I think that for quite a a lot of people SH'ing can also be a coping method used to prevent that person from attempting suicide.

[Matt_2012]

for me i guess its just self punish and takes my mind off what makes me upset. im not really sure though.

[Fiction]

I've first self-harmed over 3 years ago now, and for 2 years of that I was doing it regularly, at least more than once a week. Over that time I have self-harmed for so many different reasons.

Anger at myself has been a reason. It's a natural sort of reaction too want too hurt someone you're angry at isn't it? Well when I was angry at myself I would want to hurt myself. I would become angry at myself because I felt worthless, and horrible. I've done it too punish myself as well in the past, too an extent anyway, but that really comes back to the anger thing. It feels good to be causing harm too myself, like I deserve it, and like it's one step closer to suicide.

Another thing is, that after a while, the feeling of the pain becomes a relief. I can't quite explain how it feels. But the feeling straight after you've cut is like nothing else i've ever felt. It's like an adrenaline rush but so much better. But that almost seems to be a learned reaction, like something that develops after you've been cutting a while. The pain almost becomes pleasureable and for a few minutes you forget whatever was bothering you. I used too feel a huge sense of achievement when looking at cuts if they where especially deep, or there where a huge amount of them. Or if i'd managed to make myself bleed an unusual amount. It all seemed like a challenge too see how much I could destroy myself, and I used so many different means to self-harm. I had an eating disorder, I used to get drunk several times a week, i'd cut, i'd burn, i'd hit myself, i'd overdose. I'd do anything too be self-destructive. So I suppose in terms of your question about suicide, it was all associated too wanting to kill myself. My suicidal thoughts came first, self-harm relieved them, but I wasn't suicidal too the extent of actually attempting anything when I first self-harmed.

After you've been doing it a while though it becomes sort of a natural reaction too stress. You get the urges to self-harm when you're upset without even really knowing why.

Also, if it's of any relevence too your project, i've self-harmed for 3 years, been admitted to hospital for overdosing twice, and been in councelling 3 times, but i've been told I do not have diagnosable depression. So I guess you don't have to have clinical depression too self-harm severely enough to be hospitalised, but i'd say whether I had depression or not is debateable :p