Why do people cut?

[Ryhanna]

Hi guys

I've never felt the need to cut and I'm usually a very happy, positive person.

I'm just wondering what makes you want to cut, and why you do it? I mean, does it make you feel better or take your mind off things?

I'm just curious as I've never felt the need to.

[Eclipse]

No offense, but are you fucking kidding me? Look, if you don't cut, then why do you wanna know why other people do? Okay, well here we go for the 100,000,000th time. It makes us feel better. It gives a rush. A release. Like something's been lifted off your shoulders. Some people do it for attention. Some do it because they truly hate themselves, maybe they are going through a hard time. But in the end it comes down to the pleasure it gives. Get it?

[Bougainvillea]

You don't have to be rude to someone who doesn't know. He's just asking.

It's not like he's saying "I dun c how ppl can cut thmslvs!! it wld lyk hurttt alot...!!! y u guys do it...? i thnk its stpd..."

[Ryhanna]

No offense, but are you fucking kidding me? Look, if you don't cut, then why do you wanna know why other people do? Okay, well here we go for the 100,000,000th time. It makes us feel better. It gives a rush. A release. Like something's been lifted off your shoulders. Some people do it for attention. Some do it because they truly hate themselves, maybe they are going through a hard time. But in the end it comes down to the pleasure it gives. Get it?

Offence taken.

Get over it, I was wondering what makes you do it, not telling you you shouldn't do it or that it's wrong.

[LovelessNightmare]

I read about it already,its like a drug,for someone to feel apparantly "good" when their sad or troubled or something....I guess thats it I read about it..

[Permanence]

For me it used to because I felt so numb that I wasn't sure I was alive. I haven't cut in many years though.

[Fiction]

Well its like. well i do it for two reasons. The first one is sometimes i feel really upset. I then wonder why i feel upset when my problems are so small. I get confused, i turn my music up full blast and i go round my room just attacking myself with whatever i can find. Its like i'm consumed in my own anger at myself. When someone does you wrong you want to punish them right? You want to hurt them. Imagine that feeling against yourself.
The other reason is when i'm lying in bed and i just feel like i don't care anymore. I don;t care what happens to me but i just feel this numbness inside me. At the same time there is an intense sadness inside me. So i get what i need, This is when i do the the worst things. I'll keep the pain coming and feel a euphoric feeling each time i do it. Then i'll see the marks and its just so calming.

[CuriousDestruction]

people have many reasons to cut. the general reason is to feel the rush of endorphins that kick in by self harming. another reason is just so they know they can feel pain in the world. i've always felt the urge to cut just because it's quieter than screaming... people don't always know exactly.

[BeautifulDisaster]

There are quite a few threads on why.

For me;


Abuse, neglect, bullying, fear, anger, anxiety, feeling broken inside, grief & loss, feeling depressed, feeling out of control, cutting on impulse, feeling numb, feeling disconnected, a need for release, an urge to see blood, an urge to see deep, wide wounds, gaping, needing to just get through the day, punishment, quite a lot... the reason(s) varies for everyone.

I've been self harming since I was 7, so the reasons have changed a lot over the years.

[Project Delta]

The physcological reason is the build up of tension and stress inside the body which causes the person to think of a way to get rid of it. And because Their original way of just saying its fine and leaving it isn't working they start to think that self harm is a way to do it.
Self harm is the act of harm upon oneself which releases a chemical called endorphines. In the brain. This release gives you a euphoric feeling the first time you do it. And that is what you get addicted to. The felling of euphoria.

Many people have self harm addictions. 3,000,000 + People have it in America at this present time.

My reason was because i was constantly bullied all through my life and still am. Each day is a fight to stop myself from self harming. I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes i wish i could just do it and it takes everything i have to stop me from doing it.
This is about it. Hope i helped :)

[Asylum]

i'll list reasonswhy i do it to help you understand... sometimes i will go numb, so i'll cut to feel soemhng...sometimes it works... soemtimes it doenst... i also hear voices and see things... get anxety atacks and paranoia attacks... cutting calms it down.. realeases everything.. if i'm having a bad week like today for instance mom watns to leave, lost a bst friend, dad fips out, dad almost has a heart atack, lots of scraming, throwing things... not good... so mny breakdowns... one cut, realsing endophines and emotions makes u feel better. distracts the pain inside with the one on the outside for a few moments... makes me feel good to see i hurt myself.. loook u deserved this... or hey look its what i'm feelign...
also watngn to see blood. neglect, abuse, sexual abuse, bullying, the past, grief, punishemet, feelign alone... i've been SI ing for 7 years.

[Ryhanna]

I have major anxiety disorder and it prevents me from going to school sometimes. School and large crowds are my weaknesses.

I don't get any of the feelings you guys have described.

I just want to tell you,

Even when your feeling like the most worthless person in the world,

Your not even close. Your all really, really great people with beautiful souls.

Thank you for helping me understand why you hurt yourselves. I deal with these things in different ways to you. But even so, I now understand why you do it.

Love yourselves. I'm not talking about being IN love with yourself. But be proud of who you are.

Once again, thank you. Not only do I now understand others better, I understand myself. Thanks to you people, I somehow feel more confident... and I feel that anxiety won't keep me down. Thanks.

[Nelson]

I cut because.. i guess its an anger thing

I usually cut when i have fights with my dad.

[Amyxoxo]

As you can see people cut or hurt themselves for many different reasons.
These range from (sadly) attention seaking, To having a mental illness.
Although many people who self harm dont really know why they do it, sort of like a habbit.
Im sure that if you PM some friendly people they would be able to give you their reason for a deeper understanding.
Personally I think that it is good people posting things like this on here because it shows that they are willing to listen to our side of the story.

[Atonement]

I while back I put this together and I hope it helps you understand it.

http://www.virtualteen.org/topics/teens/abuse/self-harm/

[Seeker94]

Many people have many different reasons for cutting but me personally......it is because every single person I go to school with treats me as if I am nothing as if I deserve to die.....I have cut and keep cutting.....secretly from my family of course....but yeah.....Also it's because of the rush that you get from the very blood that runs through your body to heal the cut you had caused.

[Asylum]

I have major anxiety disorder and it prevents me from going to school sometimes. School and large crowds are my weaknesses.

I don't get any of the feelings you guys have described.

I just want to tell you,

Even when your feeling like the most worthless person in the world,

Your not even close. Your all really, really great people with beautiful souls.

Thank you for helping me understand why you hurt yourselves. I deal with these things in different ways to you. But even so, I now understand why you do it.

Love yourselves. I'm not talking about being IN love with yourself. But be proud of who you are.

Once again, thank you. Not only do I now understand others better, I understand myself. Thanks to you people, I somehow feel more confident... and I feel that anxiety won't keep me down. Thanks.

i have sevre anxiety disordre too as well as many other things.. its ok not to comprhend the feeeligns we described. consider urself lucky. i kwno its still sort of hard to understnad, but i'm glad u asked, and got many well written answers so you can better understand it.

that was nice of yo to say, but for someone iek me its hard to do... its really hard. especially by the past i come from... its sort of like i didn't know what iwas doing at first.... i' start from picking scabs, hitting, pucnhing thins, hitting objects into me,... it wasn't cutting at all... just self injury... then things would got worse... i didn't know what i was doing... picked up a scissor, and sliced my skin open... it felt good... wanted to do it again.. each time i felt that waay.. i watned to feel better.. it becxame an addiction... i have been trying to quit sicne i started... and each day i'm getting better coping mind skills :) but i still falter sometiems... like when iblack out and ake up with cuts i didn't know i did.. i'm glad that anxiety will now not keep you down, if you ever need to vent, or talk to someone aobut anxiety or any problem, yiou can always PM me.

[Ryhanna]

i have sevre anxiety disordre too as well as many other things.. its ok not to comprhend the feeeligns we described. consider urself lucky. i kwno its still sort of hard to understnad, but i'm glad u asked, and got many well written answers so you can better understand it.

that was nice of yo to say, but for someone iek me its hard to do... its really hard. especially by the past i come from... its sort of like i didn't know what iwas doing at first.... i' start from picking scabs, hitting, pucnhing thins, hitting objects into me,... it wasn't cutting at all... just self injury... then things would got worse... i didn't know what i was doing... picked up a scissor, and sliced my skin open... it felt good... wanted to do it again.. each time i felt that waay.. i watned to feel better.. it becxame an addiction... i have been trying to quit sicne i started... and each day i'm getting better coping mind skills :) but i still falter sometiems... like when iblack out and ake up with cuts i didn't know i did.. i'm glad that anxiety will now not keep you down, if you ever need to vent, or talk to someone aobut anxiety or any problem, yiou can always PM me.

I know what you mean. I feel that way sometimes but I never feel the need to hurt myself. I guess in my mind it would onlymake problems worse. People have different ways of coping with things and I don't think anyone copes in the same way.

[rzz1993]

People need to find new ways to get their anger and emotions out rather than endangering themselves..try boxing or singing or something like that. Not gonna sit here and tell you not to do it but just remember that it's not the only way to relieve stress and anger..

[2D]

I don't cut anymore. I still need pain though. It keeps me grounded.

[Ryhanna]

People need to find new ways to get their anger and emotions out rather than endangering themselves..try boxing or singing or something like that. Not gonna sit here and tell you not to do it but just remember that it's not the only way to relieve stress and anger..

Those ways are personally better, for me.

[BeautifulDisaster]

Self harm is an addiction, both emotionally & chemically.

Some people don't have other ways to cope other than to hurt themselves.

I've tried dozens of other ways, nothing works, same for millions of others out there.

Personally, It's an issue for everyone who self harms, & I don't think anyone could understand unless they have been there & done that & have been in that person's shoes.
- Which ultimately, no one has been.

[Seeker94]

You're very very right....if only people could see how our lives are in our perspecitive...put themselves in our place for a day...

[1_21Guns]

I used to do it for a mix of reasons.
Punishment, release, to know I was still alive, and as a result of all that, I did it because I was adicted to the feeling.
The buzz from it was amazing, everything just fades away and you feel okay for once, the pain tells you that your still alive and the blood shows you your still real. Everything about that made the whole thing so good, made me think there couldn't possibly be anything too bad about it, that it was okay to carry on, after all, who was I hurting? I had noone.
But I was hurting everyone that knew. Everything about it is wrong, and all those feelings are fake. Its like having a fake best friend, that feels like the only real friend you have. And thats why. I just wanted someone to hear me. Unfortunately the blade was the only thing that felt like it was listening.

[Scarface]

pain depression anger i would cut for no reason just to feel the release

[Lazy Procrastinator]

Many people here are reasoning self-harm as a coping mechanism for stress, depression, grief and such, but I hope you don't get the idea in your head that when things turn sour that you turn to this coping mechanism, there are many other ways of coping so i suggest if you ever have a bad period in your life that you turn to the alternatives.

I find writing my emotions while i feel them calms me down. When I have fits of rage or feel depressed I get my pen and paper out and then chronologically order the events with notations beside Eg.
13:10 - Anger: Feelings of not being good enough for my family.
13:13 - Sadness: What will I become?

Eg.
11:32 - Rage: Threw books at the wall after not understanding some questions in my math book (obviously written after :S).
11:32 - Tears: Cried about how bleak my future looks.
This is my coping mechanism that I thought up by myself, and although it sounds odd and dumb, it's very similar to a diary that many people use to vent their feelings of the day. I label my coping mechanism the "*Emotion* Diary" where emotion may be rage, depressed, numbness, alienation...

[georgiamay]

i used to do it whever i was angry or upset, as kind of a release, and eventually i kind of got addicted. I really hate it when people think self-harmers are attention seekers, like in school last week, a girl in my english class said they do it or "fun" and "because they want people to think they were hard" and i got so pissed off :P

i know 1 girl in my year who cut for the attention, but i never did...i mean, how can it be for attention if one of the main aspects of it is keeping it a secret?

[cezisnotdead]

The reason I started cutting was because I had a friend who used to try and describe the feeling of relief, and I don't get it, but I was so desperate to make myself feel better when I used to get depressed, that I wanted to try it, and I got addicted, because even though it never helped me, it helped me feel like I was at least dong something that helped, even though it didn't. It doesn't make sense... but hey, of course it doesn't.

[Brighter.Tomorrow]

Everyone cuts for a different reason, no one person can tell you why for everyone.
Some reason's are:
Not fitting in.
Depression.
Anger.

[HeroesAndCons]

We do it because it makes us feel better