Why and when did you begin self-harming?

[ReginaGeorge]

I'm really curious. Did you intend to actually harm yourself? Were you 'seeing what all the fuss was about'? Did it start unconsciously and become a problem? Something else?

The first time I cut, I was 13 and using a sort of role-playing social networking site, a lot of the people on there were completely fake, but I wasn't aware of that. I thought everyone on there was a real person. I became friends with one girl and we talked for weeks and weeks. One night I was having a bad time, and she recommended that I cut myself, because she did and she said it made her feel better. So, I did. Three or four scratches above my left knee. I don't really know why I kept doing it after that, but almost four years later, here I am. l0l. I'm not convinced she was real, if she knew what self-harming was really like, she wouldn't have recommend it to anyone.

[MartyG]

That is sooooo true. I'm all for internet freedom for teens but in the beginning it's so important to be taught to question **EVERYTHING** you see.


When my little cousin is on-line I sit with him and help him understand that not all that he sees and hears is actually true.

Like Omegle....haha

[XxEmoCheerleaderxX]

I started almost a year ago.. i was under alot of stress and kinda zoned out... when i "woke up" i had 3 bleeding scratches on my fingers... after that i just couldn't stop... although i have now been clean for 17 weeks and i plan to stay clean

[Hopelovesyou]

It happened a few months ago. My stepdad was yelling, and for whatever reason that day, I just SNAPPED, I couldn't take it, when they left to go shopping I took the biggest knife I had in my knife block and cut myself. I didn't feel anything. I was upset.
It kept getting worse from there, I was addicted. I cut myself 8 times at one point with a razor blade cuz I couldn't take it.
My mother found out, and she was clearly upset, so I had to stop (she took away my braclets :/). I was clean for about 2-3 months, and then just a few days ago I cut myself again. I'm going to try the Butterfly Project...

[LoveMe_HateMe]

3-4 years ago? Not quite sure when it first happened, but was feeling low and read somewhere that people do it and that it helps them... did read about the whole it's addicted thing, but I just thought it wouldn't happen to me... 3-4 years down the line my thighs, tummy and wrist. Are covered in scars. I still have scars from when I first started.

[Megson]

Self harm for me started as a nervous habit. If I got anxious, I scratched myself or pulled my hair. Soon, I started doing it when I was angry or upset. I used to bite myself more than anything when I was younger. Sheesh, I can't even tell you when I STARTED. It seems like I've always coped through physically harming myself...

I started CUTTING in 7th grade. I quit for a while, and started up again early in Sophomore year.

[Freiheit]

For me, it was because I use to read a lot and there were always these books about cutting. Also, I thought blood was fascinating. The more I bleed, the better I'd feel.

[ackmedsgirl666]

i started cutting when i was 14.
im not quite sure wat triggered it but from what i remember i started cutting because my bestfriend was cutting and i started doing it to see how it felt and it used to make me feel good. the feeling i felt by cutting replaced everything it was mt safe haven. although u havent done it in months i still have the odd urge whenever i am overwhelmed by something but i usually try and avoid it. last major breakdown i had was when my boyfriend left me and i cut pretty bad. i would have to say that impulse is what caused me to start

[CyanideGoodnight]

First time was unconscious. I was in the car. I was angry. I clenched my fists. One hand was in my other, next thing I knew I was bleeding because I was digging my nail into my hand. Didn't hurt much, but it happened again, and I liked it. It slowly escalated.

I was thirteen I think.

[painful paradice]

Sophmore year? freshman? summer between? I took a lighter and burnt myself on purpose and half unconscious. I just put a lighter to my hand and flicked it. it hurt at first, but then it was like I was free from life.
Now I'm 23 days clean... I miss every second of hurting myself.

[Gazmo]

i started when i was 11/12 ish? i used to just scratch my stomach till it was bleeding, and when i was 13 i just took apart a razor and ive done it everyday since then. so about 3 years i guess. i started becuase i had a lot of stuff going on in my life and i couldnt handle it. i heard about it and just did it becuase it helped

[Mortal Coil]

Mine started unconsciously. My earliest memory is of when I was three and threw myself down the stairs for a rush, to see if I could handle the pain. The first time I deliberately hurt myself was when I was nine. That was when I actually cut. Then I did it because I needed a release. I've been addicted basically ever since.

[Harley Quinn]

I'm really curious. Did you intend to actually harm yourself? Were you 'seeing what all the fuss was about'? Did it start unconsciously and become a problem? Something else?

I was 14, and I just felt the sudden urge to see what it would be like. That was when it was intentional, though. Before that, I would always find ways to hurt myself but it never seemed like it was intentional because it just seemed to happen. I fell down a flight of concrete stairs, passed out, got taken to hospital, fractured my eye bone. I broke my arm when I was 9 and broke my thumb and most of my fingers when I was 10. I 'fell' from a moving truck going round a corner at 11, damaged my knee when I was 13. Fractured my wrist when I was 14, my elbow and knuckles when I was 15 - and so on.

After 'non intentional' harm that just seemed to happen, but something I seemed to like, it became more intentional and I guess it's been a problem for 2-3 years. Considering I don't do it as much as I used to, I don't think it's a 'problem' for me any more per say, more of an unconscious thought that I need to do some damage.

[Weeping]

I started when I was like eleven, at least that's when I intentionally did it.. I had never heard of such a thing as self-harm, but I just felt the urge to hurt myself and went for some scissors. First time I know of that I planned to kill myself I was seven though, so the sadness wasn't new.

[XxEmoCheerleaderxX]

I'm going to try the Butterfly Project...

good idea :) it did help me quite a bit in quiting cutting :) just remember that no matter what even if it begins to seem pointless, continue useing it- don't give up. I wish you luck with it and I hope it helps you as much as it helped me :)

[Fiction]

I first started self-harming 3 years ago now.

The first time I self-harmed I was straightening my hair. I accidentally burnt myself and just felt curious about how much it'd mark and hurt too hold my straightners on my skin, and too see just how long I could hold my straighteners on my skin. It wasn't intentional self-harm as such, but it gave me a rush, and i'd been depressed for a while beforehand, so I kept doing it. That turned into cutting and that's how I started self-harming regularly.

Although saying that, before that i'd given myself mild scratches from time to time because I felt numb and hurting made me feel. I'd also been getting drunk in order to cope for a few months before that, and on one occasion mildly overdosing. So I always think it's slightly debateable when and how I started self-harming :p So I sort of first self-harmed 5 years ago now, but I really wouldn't count that.

[Hopelovesyou]

good idea :) it did help me quite a bit in quiting cutting :) just remember that no matter what even if it begins to seem pointless, continue useing it- don't give up. I wish you luck with it and I hope it helps you as much as it helped me :)

Thank you :) that means a lot, especially RIGHT now, I've had a pretty shitty day, and I've gone to the counselors twice. :/ So, thank you :)

[xXJust Jump ItXx]

Started last June... I knew it was a problem a few months after and why I started, I wish I could say...

[liz9591]

I must've been about 12 or 13. I can't remember much, but at that point, I still kept a pocketknife next to my bed. My friend and neighbour had recently killed himself, and I still have nightmares about waking up to the sirens outside my window. I needed a release.

[HollowSoul]

I started like 2 years ago. At first I just burned myself with the flat iron. I was so stressed with school and my mother is a major ass. She kept bringing around my step dad who used to abuse my sister and me. I've always taken my frustrations out on myself but last year I took it to a new level. And I cut. Something about it makes me feel better. I was able to stop myself for a while but I relapsed about a week ago.

[DerBear]

Please don't bump old threads, If you want too then create your own thread about this :locked2: