why do people cut thierselves?

Question

When I get depressed i cut myself

Answer 1

To some cutters the outside pain eases the inner emotional pain temporarily. For some it is a form of self punishment for things wrong in there life. There are a lot of reasons in the minds of different cutters. I guess it depends on you and what you seem to get from it. As for those who think it is "attention seeking behavior", to a "real" cutter it is not. I use the term "real cutter" for lack of a better name. Someone who really self mutilates because of their mental state.....does not go around showing off the after affects. As a matter of fact they are ashamed and fear people finding out what they are doing. They will wear long sleeve shirts in the middle of summer to hide cuts on their arms. However, their are those attention driven people who will do it and then announce it or make sure that someone sees what they have done. That is in my opinion attention seeking. Even those people may be crying out for help though. I know it seems outrageous to someone who has never done it and that is understandable. Although, please do not think that these people are only looking for pity.

Answer 2

I used to cut myself over everything. Sometimes I cut to feel because I was so numb I cuoldn't feel anything, emoitionally. Other times I would cut to release whatever emotion I had building inside of me.
I was bad for stuffing down my pain and then I would cut to make it come out. I didn't crying and often referred to my blood as crying.
I also cut to "punish" myself whenever I did something that I viewed as VERY wrong. I was stuck in a cycle experience pain, cut wake up the next day feel bad for cutting and then I'd cut again. It got so bad that I couldn't go through a day without cutting atleast once, usually more.
I had a very hard time dealing with my emotions, it even got to the point to where I would cut when I was happy because I didn't feel like I deserved to be happy. I made a lot of bad choices and hurt a lot of people I cared about so I didn't think I should be happy when everyone around me was so unhappy with who and what I turned out to be.
I haven't cut in years and I still carry around my razor blade, just for comfort.
I know some people think that cutting is a scream for attention, but I NEVER told anyone about cutting. I tried to hide it from everyone, even my closest friends didn't know for a very long time. I do believe some people do cut just for the attention, but that wasn't the case for me.
Cutting really kept me alive. When I wanted to die I would cut and then somehow it brought me back down to reality and I knew I didn't really want to die.I know it sounds strange that cutting kept me alive, but it did.

Answer 3

It is a way to express the feelings that seem to large to say. They feel so large!!! Like if you allowed your self to cry, you would never stop.
Some say it is for others to pay attention to the cutter, I don't think it is.... I don't do it for that.
I like the way it "takes the emotional pain away"
the way I can take care of the wound... It makes the pain visible, more real somehow... I can care for it, make it "better" by helping to heal it.
But of course, this is not a healthy thing to be doing. It is a backwards coping skill. There are other coping skills to use...like punching pillows, running cold water on your wrists, wearing rubber-bands on your wrist and snapping them.... breathing exercises....stuff like that..... hope this helped

Answer 4

Why Do People Cut Themselves?
It can be hard to understand why people cut themselves on purpose. Cutting is what experts call an unhealthy coping mechanism. This means that the people who do it have not developed healthy ways of dealing with strong emotions, intense pressure, or upsetting relationship problems.


There are lots of good, healthy ways to cope with difficulties, such as talking problems over with parents, other adults, or friends; putting problems in perspective; and getting plenty of exercise. But people who cut haven't developed these skills. When emotions don't get expressed in a healthy way, tension can build up - sometimes to a point where it seems almost unbearable. Cutting may be an attempt to relieve that extreme tension. It's a confused way of feeling in control. That's one of the reasons why younger teens are more likely to cut.

The urge to cut might be triggered by strong feelings the person can't express - such as anger, hurt, shame, frustration, or depression. People who cut sometimes say they feel they don't fit in or that no one understands them. A person might cut because of losing someone close or to escape a sense of emptiness. Cutting might seem like the only way to find relief, or the only way to express personal pain over relationships or rejection.

People who cut or self-injure sometimes have other mental health problems that contribute to their emotional tension. Cutting is sometimes (but not always) associated with depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, obsessive thinking, or compulsive behaviors. It can also be a sign of mental health problems that cause people to have trouble controlling their impulses or to take unnecessary risks. Some people who cut themselves have problems with drug or alcohol abuse.

Some people who cut have had a traumatic experience, such as living through abuse, violence, or a disaster. Self-injury may feel like a way of "waking up" from a sense of numbness after a traumatic experience. Or it may be a way of reinflicting the pain they went through, expressing anger over it, or trying to get control of it.

What Can Happen to People Who Cut?
Although cutting may provide some temporary relief from a terrible feeling, even people who cut agree that cutting isn't a good way to get that relief. For one thing, the relief doesn't last - the troubles that triggered the cutting remain, they're just masked over.

People don't usually intend to hurt themselves permanently when they cut. And they don't usually mean to keep cutting once they start. But both can happen. It's possible to misjudge the depth of a cut, making it so deep that it requires stitches (or, in extreme cases, hospitalization). Cuts can become infected if a person uses nonsterile or dirty cutting instruments - razors, scissors, pins, or even the sharp edge of the tab on a can of soda.

Most people who cut aren't attempting suicide. Cutting is usually a person's attempt at feeling better, not ending it all. Although some people who cut do attempt suicide, it's usually because of the emotional problems and pain that lie behind their desire to self-harm, not the cutting itself.

Cutting can be habit forming. It can become a compulsive behavior - meaning the more a person does it, the more he or she feels the need to do it. The brain starts to connect the false sense of relief from bad feelings to the act of cutting, and it craves this relief the next time tension builds. When cutting becomes a compulsive behavior, it can seem impossible to stop. So cutting can seem almost like an addiction. A behavior that starts as an attempt to feel more in control can end up controlling you.

How Does Cutting Start?
Cutting often begins on an impulse. It's not something the person thinks about ahead of time. Shauna says, "It starts when something's really upsetting and you don't know how to talk about it or what to do. But you can't get your mind off feeling upset, and your body has this knot of emotional pain. Before you know it, you're cutting yourself. And then somehow, you're in another place. Then, the next time you feel awful about something, you try it again - and slowly it becomes a habit."

Answer 5

People often cut themselves because they think its a sense of release. Somepeople cut themselves because : it feels good (to them), its a way to go against society and do something bad, they feel like its the only way to make they pain go away.Instead of cutting yourself, try talking to a friend or even a doctor. Call a teen help hotline.
-Punkin

Answer 6

I do this myself except to a different degree. I have found that physical pain is a release from emotional pain. I used to cut, than I started getting tattoos and now I brand myself as "therapy" to ease the emotional scaring that I have had to endure. Please feel free to e-mail me if you need a sympathetic ear.

Answer 7

I had a friend who did it once and dr phil did a show on this it is most of the time caused from a mental sickness,child abuse,etc.
I would suggest seeking some medical help.This can be serious.

Answer 8

sumtimes ppl do it for attention, or maybe they really dont want to live anymore. i have never cut myself, and im sorry ur that depressed. my friend scratched her wrist (it wasnt deep enough to be called a cut) because she has problems with her parents and her self esteem is really low.

Answer 9

People do it when they're hurting, or angry, or whatever. It's their way of letting their emotions out

Answer 10

they say it is so that they can mask thier emotional pain by inflicting physical pain on themselves...I say it is all attention seeking behavior...