why is it adicting?

[ShatteredWings]

god, ive only actually-actually cut a few times, but now i want it badly..i dont get it.

its physical pain

we'ren't (we meaning humans) suppoed to enjoy pain

[electric7rocker]

(this is my opinion from what ive learned)
pain is a response to something happening to your body
like if you bit by a spider
the pain is there to tell you something is wrong so you can fix it
but i guess it might not matter whether or not you enjoy it (so long as its not addicting of course, because that leads to other bad stuff)
because the pain/feeling still gets the message across to you that something has happened that you might want to take care of ie a cut or spider bite or something

[Acronychal]

Well, it all depends on why you started cutting in the first place.
For some people, it's to distract themselves from emotional/mental pain. When the stress of that pain returns, they get the urge to cut again. There's also sometimes a circumstance triggering the urge to cut. Say, if the person began cutting when it was raining outside, everytime it rains from that point on, they could get the urge to feel pain.
For others, like when I used to, it's to feel SOMETHING. Numbness can be very overpowering, and once someone's felt SOMETHING, whether it be pain or something else, feeling it can be very addicting. It can be subconcious fear as well, the fear of slipping back into the numbness. For me, everytime I cut, it felt like I was on a 'high' of sorts. Everything seemed to be brighter, I was in a better mood. Not because I was feeling pain, but because I was feeling.
Another aspect to all of it is chemical. Regardless of why you began, physical pain produces chemicals in your brain that create happiness. Cutting yourself releases endophines and adrenaline, which relieve pain and make you feel happy. So it is also very much so a chemical addiction.
Sorry for all the technical talk, I hope that helps!

[ShatteredWings]

Say, if the person began cutting when it was raining outside, everytime it rains from that point on, they could get the urge to feel pain....
i do hope that's an example...
For others, like when I used to, it's to feel SOMETHING. Numbness can be very overpowering, and once someone's felt SOMETHING, whether it be pain or something else, feeling it can be very addicting.
hm, that is probably a good point
Another aspect to all of it is chemical. Regardless of why you began, physical pain produces chemicals in your brain that create happiness. Cutting yourself releases endophines and adrenaline, which relieve pain and make you feel happy. So it is also very much so a chemical addiction.
Sorry for all the technical talk, I hope that helps!
hey i was HOPING for a techncal example..i do realize that most people don't know why they do it (me too....)

thanks

[Serenity]

I'm too tired to paraphrase, so I'll just give you a link to a site I found: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/self_injury.htm

[ShatteredWings]

haha. funy linee

thanks for the site

[Dynamo]

When your body is in pain, stressed, excited, or experiencing orgasm, the brain begins to produce endorphins. Endorphins simulate the effect of an opiate (Pain reliever), and basically give the body a natural high. So essentially, people get addicted to the feeling and craves the feeling. Why the person began cutting in the first place is also a huge factor, but it's essentially a drug fix. That's the scientific explanation of it anyway. The emotional reasoning could be any number of things.

[Yasmine]

when you're in pain, it's your body's way of telling you not to do something. i would never cut myself on purpose.

[Mr. Smithers]

Its to deal with all the problems that you are facing in life at the present time in which you are doing it.

By not understanding as to why others do it is a good thing. They are under a lot of depression and pressure and they come to cutting as a way of relieving themselves and expressing themselves. But there is help for it.

[ktkurbst0mp]

Cutting, releases the same feel-good endorphins in your brain as smoking weed does.
It's fact.

[Xistrance]

its adictive because it works. thats the addicting thing. It makes it all go away, its a way to permanantly remove those present feelings to slip away, it lets you enter your own world inside yourself, to escape even for the short perid you do, its so gratifing to remove those feelings. like myself, im extremely anti-social, I have friends but none I can talk to on this level because most of them really dont understand. So I resolved it with this fast release, the endorphins removed the feeling of numbness I felt from my own issues because I felt the only thing that could stir any emotion inside myself is pain, unfortunatly it worked and it caught me for 7 years. But needing it is different to wanting it.

If you can, dont dont get yourself entangled into the addiction, for your own sake seriously. talk to us about your problems, before you want to cut again, turn your pc and PM me. Its always nice to talk to someone, who cannot judge you on appearance, social background or anything except the intellct that resides inside of you to self control and talk about wat happened and why you need it. why you want it. it works it really does. I blurted most of my life story here and I felt so much better, although SH is still an issue, self control is becoming my enemy and friend.
I want to keep doing SH I do because its my way of dealing with thigs, why should anyone stop me, but also its not good for my mind and social skills, because I dont want to talk to anyone face to face because people judge, they can see the scars and think omg fucking EMO, go slitwrist mate. and thats terrible that people dont understand we are exactly like them that we dont deal with it their way, their politically corret way. and thats all down to my cutting. so its the wrong path seriously, after 7 years I realised this and im getting help, starting with myself, no one can really know wahts going on inside my brain only me, the only key to creating harmony with myself, body and mind is through solving my problems, gaining closure, righting my wrongs, sorting my day to day stresses, of cause this is going to end up in sessions upon session but the self control tip works, after 2 hours of restraining not cutting, you dont feel like doing it, and you put the razor down and do some soul searching because in the 2 hours, your mind is racing round and round thinking about the hate, the stress, the sadness and anger inside and ou start to rationally think about what caused it, how you really feel and how you can sort it out, because it isnt the end of the world, although some things do tip you over the end and this doesnt always work for certain issues but I think now i gone a little of point but im sure you can scope info from this <3