What is one thing...

[BuryYourFlame]

you would wish for people to know about self harm?

This is for a talk on self harm, I am hoping to quote a few people. You will be anonymous.

Thank you in advance.

[xXdamienXx]

We're NOT insane and NOT freakin Emo!! (im a Goth but thats diffrent)....

[Bridgett]

I dont do it on purpose. If you knew the stress you'd think differently. I'm not mental and im not trying to kill my self. I dont want to do it but i do. Don't judge because ur not me or any one else tht cuts or self harms.

[Aspiringanonymous]

Self harm in essence is no different from any other addiction.

[starbrite5]

We don't self-harm for pity or attention.

[UnknownError]

We aren't all emo's. :/

[Mike321]

We all do it for different reasons, but its a way of expressing our feelings
Its like any other addiction, dont judge people for it

[misery_business]

We don't do it for attention, and we are not emo's !
its a way of feeling in control and a way of coping.

[MadManWithaBox]

To stop generalising all sad, depressed, and self harmers under the emo umbrella, and for them to stop assuming we're all suicidal, and that we're not attention seekers.

[Aceso]

for people to stop dropping us in the emo status. And I would wish they would help rather than think us freaks and laugh :/
And stop making such a bloody big thing of it :/

[Kaius]

Self harm makes a persons life like a rat in a rodent run. You need to change your direction in life to get some place new.

[Harley Quinn]

It's who we are, not something that's going to change anytime soon. It's called a coping mechanism, not a death wish. Learn that before commenting but actually, if you didn't notice, it makes a small, narrow minded bigot. And I hate bigots.

[REGRET]

It's not something that you can just stop doing.

[georgiamay]

its like an addiction, and just the way i deal with pain and depression, or when i dont feel anything and i just want to feel something i'll self harm.
i'm not an attention seeker, i mean, i go out of my way to hide my cuts and burns and stuff, so how the hell does that make me an attention seeker?!?
i'm ashamed of it, i'm not proud of it, so people pointing at laughing at me wouldn't exactly help if they found out. and i wish i never felt like i had to do it.

[1_21Guns]

it's not a first resort.
it's the last.

it's not a cry for attention.
it's a cry for help.

the first cut will always be the deepest, even if it was just a scratch.

you can't just stop. it's not that simple.

we are just the same as everyone who doesn't cut. it doesnt make us any less human. its the way we have come to deal with stuff, and by no means is it reccomended.

when you feel numb, sometimes pain is all you can feel, and this is the only way we think to feel it.

not every cutter is emo, and not every emo cuts.

and finally.
it's never worth it, just most of the time we think it is.

[Obscene Eyedeas]

A little poem:

In the darkest night on the darkest hour,
we only had the alcohol, we only had the drugs
We also picked up the blade, to silence the anguish and bury the pain.
to let go of all that hurt, an addiction to cover the loss of hope.

Now some words from the heart:

People see the cuts, but they dont see the person, dont see the pain. They dont see all the other types of self harm like alcohol abuse and drugs. Cutting is the easiest form of self harm to spot and yet the most harshly treated. self harm is not what defines a person, it just shows that they need help coping. So instead of pointing that finger of blame, excluding them and making things worse why not just offer that helping hand or even maybe just a smile, they need your acceptance, your help not your judgement

[BeautifulDisaster]

That it's not attention seeking, self pitying, a phase, down to hormones & a way to kill myself.

[Dgw91]

That it's not a choice, not something to be proud of. It's not premeditated it just happens and I for one hate it everytime.(I'm not speaking for everyone here because honestly I don't really know anyone else who does it. I just found this site and that's why I'm here6

[Fiction]

It's not controllable and often we don't know how we ended up so bad. It's not easy to stop and we can't control how badly we do it, we can scare ourselves sometimes.

[BeautifulDisaster]

Not to upset anyone but you can take the control back & it can be controllable.

[Atonement]

Those who cut aren't necessarily suicidal. They can be, but aren't always.

[BeautifulDisaster]

^^ I agree 100%.
It's been suspected that my cuts are an attempt to take my life, but that wasn't the case at all. (due to them being so deep & hitting veins, this I did not plan.)

It's more likely to prevent one from taking their own life.