What are the source events that promote cutting?

Question

I know about endorphins, but why do we start? How does the notion even form? Please don't tell me I need help - I already know that.

Answer 1

I don't really know, but I'm dealing with the same problem.

Answer 2

I have a niece who was cutting. She chose to do it to release the anger/stress/hurt/pain she was feeling because of different things in her life. She hadn't been doing it long before we noticed it. She was wearing long sleeves for the first month of summer so my sis asked to see her arms.

She was a "perfect" kid. She rarely talked back, never argued with friends, never slacked off in class... that can just kill you. My sis worked hard to get her to put a lot more anger into her life. If something bugs her now, she just yells or talks it out. My sis explained that a "happy" B is better than a stressed out A and she's not expected to be perfect. She stopped cutting once she found an outlet for everything else she was feeling. Now, she cuts up on paper, writing the most amazing songs and poems.

She's lucky that she managed to stop before the scarring was too bad because I have a friend who cut her arms so badly over a period of 10 years that she is permanently damaged to a point that even laser surgery won't take them away. She's tattoo'd arm bands over the scars to try to hide them but they're still pretty apparent. The scars on her legs mean she can never wear shorts or a skirt and I haven't seen her in a bathing suit in all the time I've known her. She stopped cutting 5 years ago and there hasn't been a lot of fading.

From her, I learned that cutting is a pleasurable addiction. It's as hard to stop as a drug or alcohol addiction because the preparation is calming and the act itself actually does make you feel better until the shame and panic of having another mark to hide sets in. That panic and shame can spiral you into more cutting so in that way too it's like any other addiction. You start doing it to relieve one pain and the pain it causes makes you do it more.

Please don't wait too long to get help. In the meantime, try yelling, screaming, whining, Take your anger out on the people who are causing it instead of yourself.

Answer 3

It is usually the buildup of stress over a long time, but some major event will push a person over the breaking point and they look for anyway to release stress. Actually, by the time a person is cutting, they are usually so emotionally numb, they don't feel any emotions, so they cut to feel something, feel anything. It is usually a phase, and some other event might make the person realize that nothing is worth hurting yourself for. I realize you know you need help, please dont' ignore this. If nothing else, just talk to a good friend. Pray. Go running until you pass out. But please do something. Realize that in time, you will come to know your deamons (anything that makes you feel negatively) have no power over you, and you will be free from whatever is bothering you. Whatever happens, remember that huring yourself can be a permanent solution to a tempoary problem. Please be careful.

Answer 4

I'm dealing with the same problem, myself. Actually, I find it's anger which triggers it - an anger which doesn't have an outlet at someone else (usually someone else causes this) and gets turned against myself. I've had "help" which made me feel so awful that I stopped it. I have scars all over my arms and they look really appalling, but actually the person who said you should go out and run wasn't far wrong. Although it won't solve it, doing something active when you feel really bad isn't a silly idea. Make a conscious effort to turn your mind to something else, and put your body to some hard work which will tire it out and turn your energy away from cutting.

Good luck - I really feel for you.

Answer 5

It often is the result of a person feeling that they have lost control over their lives or their bodies because they have been abused in some way. Cutting gives people a feeling of control. It can also be the result of masochism, which is pleasure derived from experiencing pain.

I would also like to say that if you are a cutter I am really sorry and you should really seek help. You can really hurt yourself and even bleed to death.

Answer 6

I have a friend who is a cutter. She was subjected to severe sexual abuse from the time she was about 1 year old. She explained cutting to me as happening when you have an overwhelming amount of pain in your life that you cannot control. Cutting is pain that you can control (in the sense that you choose to do it to yourself).

I had another friend who was also a cutter ("had" because he committed suicide several years ago). He had been severely abused as a child and was a Vietnam war vet with post traumatic stress syndrome.

Answer 7

Stress triggers. Stress is a catch-all word. Anger is a form of stress, holidays are a form of stress, hot weather, illness, deadlines are all forms of stress. Cutting is an unhealthy coping mechanism. It's only one form of self-injury.

Answer 8

ok then i wont tell you that...but i can tell you that i was going through the same thing but i realized some things...like how is it going to affect those around me like my friends or family members?...plus what else helped me to stop cutting was the fact that my friend told my youth pastor and he made me show him my wrists and stuff every time he saw me well atleast when we were alone..but he helped alot cuz he went through the same thing.....but yeah i agree with that dan guy stop hurting yourself and find something else that releases the stress and pain...but yeah its normally lots of stress combined with anger...

Answer 9

Stop hurting yourself! Go out and run, it is a much healthier release of stress.

Answer 10

Latest research shows that there are physiological abnormalities in cutters, just like in other "mental illnesses."