What drives a person to self harm?

[Falk 'Ace' Flyer]

Okay, first, I know Darkwing_T already posted something similar, but I think we have different goals here.

I want to try and understand what could be so bad that hurting yourself can make it better...I just don't get what people receive from it.

Please note that this is not meant to be insulting, or sarcastic, I would seriously like to know what people get out of cutting. It never made sense to me...

[theOperaGhost]

I think it just starts when someone gets so pissed off at themselves, and everyone else in this fucking world that they just explode and hurt themselves. When they do that, they find relief. So when they feel pissed again they try to get the same relief. Eventually it becomes an addiction just like alcohol. They don't enjoy it, they just can't stop easily. Hope that made sense.

[Flabbergasted]

It is different for almost everyone.
Some use it as a way to release emotions they have no other way of venting.
Some use it as a way to punish themselves for things they've done or because their view of themselves is that bad.

It can develop into an addiction and many people deal with it in the same way as someone may deal with a drug addiction.

[-Silence]

There was alot going in my life that drove me to it, I didn't have any other way to get things out, cutting helped.
After that I kept doing it because it gave me control when I felt like I had none.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

When I used to cut... I don't remember where I got the idea from, but I found myself doing it almost before I'd even thought about what I was doing. It was sort of like I was in a fog, and while I was cutting, I didn't see anything else but the cut. I barely felt it either, it was like scratching myself with a fingernail through two pairs of jeans. I'd be really tense before I'd cut, and afterwards I'd be more mellow and feeling more in control of things. So naturally, it became a habit when things would get rough. I knew it was bad, but I didn't care because at the time I felt like I had no other option, that no one could be allowed to know how I was really feeling. I thought that if cutting was what I had to do to keep from exploding, so be it.

[Axellance]

People usually start because they have many emotions that hey are bottling up. When it becomes to much they relece it on themselves, because they usually dont have people they feel they can talk to about there problems.

[JoshDude]

Think of it this way. Imagine everything in your life doesnt seem right, whether it be you school, parents friends, you may get bullied, abused etc, and you cant stand it. So you decide to cut yourself, so the pain takes away the thoughts of everything else harming you. And thats why I cut for the first time. Although, I dont cut anymore.

[Crystal-Clear]

Anything can.
Mine was because I lost a best friend, she wanted new friends, it made me feel un wanted, worthless, abandoned, confused, and so much more.
I didn't know what to do, stumbled upon self harm by accident really, it helped.
Some people hate them selves for doing it but just can't stop, overs relish in the addiction its their 'secret', as for me, it was a form of self punishment.

And it all stared out because I felt I wasn't good enough for my friend, and from then on, situations that made me feel in the same way, like getting in trouble at school or something, when I didn't feel good enough, or when I felt terrible, the only coping mechanism I had was to cut.

To put it in a simple way, cutting is like pringles, once you pop...you just can't stop... and you never knew why you ate the first pringle in the first place