how to stop cutting?

Question

i have been cutting for two years.. and tried everything and it doesn't help.. how to stop cutting myself? my parents know about it but thye think i am making it up for attention. and i have some white scars from cutting.. what does it mean? that i went too deep? oe not deep enough? thanks for your answers

Answer 1

its an illness. seek PROFESSIONAL help.

Answer 2

well if you are still alive you obviously did not cut deep enough. Any kind of cutting is too deep. I used to cut a little and I stopped just because of how it made my arms and legs look. To stop, you need to sit down and think about why you actually cut. Is it for yourself? Do you like the taste of blood? Do you like how it looks? Do you let people see your scars and your fresh cuts? If you do then maybe your parents are right and you do want attention. There is nothing wrong with wanting attention, but if after you examine yourself and come up with that as the reason you cut, then you need to find another way to get that attention. It is cruel to use that as a way of getting attention and causes unneeded stress on friends and family. If you do it for yourself, then find something else to do to relieve stress.

Answer 3

Sweetheart, I've been there. My parents thought the same thing. Ask them for help from a therapist. Or even talk to your school guidance counselor. It's always good to have someone to talk to. Sometimes it may feel as if you're alone, but just know that that's not true.
I've learned that you can never not cut deep enough. I have white scars too. The color of your scars may be determined by the pigmentation of your skin or the place you cut. If you ever need anyone to talk to, just send me a message. ;)

Answer 4

First of all, seek help. If your parents aren't doing anything for you go to a school counselor. They may suggest meds for your depression.
Believe me, I used to cut....I know how you feel. I used to take a key or a letter opener and slice myself up like a pizza. Its not worth it. You have to WANT to stop cutting. Figure out why you are doing it. Are you addicted to pain? If so perhaps try taking up tattoos and piercings. Thats what I did.
The cuts don't make anything better, they hurt, look tacky and can get infected. NOT WORTH IT.

I don't know what the white scars are. Consult a doctor. Life is too short.

Answer 5

I managed to get my cutting habit two years ago by talking with my therapist. Then I threw away my razors and knives and broken glass and started wearing a rubber band around my wrist and caring a red marker in my purse. Whenever I felt the urge to cut, I would pop the rubber band or mark on myself with marker. It sounds silly, but it CAN help. You could also try letting out whatever angst you're feeling in writing or art; I've heard that that can help, too.

It's not easy to quit. I tried once before and thought I was over it, but then my life got really stressful and it started up again. Like most other addictions, it takes time and effort to stop.

Answer 6

Last year, I was very depressed and I started cutting my wrists just to express how badly I was hurting. For a couple of months, I cut nearly every day. There were a couple of things that helped me get past it. The most important was recommitting to following Jesus. The second most important was finding people who would support me.

Lately, I've been really wanting to cut my wrists again, so I've called on those same friends to be there for me. I pray a lot. I'm also trying to take a bit of advice I found online: I made a list of things I like to do (read, sing, bake, run, etc.), and when I feel like cutting myself, I do one of those things instead. And the other day, when I really was having a tough time, I just sat down at the computer and wrote a long email to a friend.

I definitely agree with all those who have said that finding the reason you cut and seeking professional help are important. I just know that those aren't always the easiest things to do - especially when your parents don't think you need help or don't want to admit that you need help. So I wanted to share my own personal experience. I hope it helps.

Answer 7

What you need to do, is take everything that you use to cut yourself away.. put it in a box and cover it with two pieces of tape. Each day you get through the day without cutting yourself, add two more pieces of tape, believe me. Keep a rubber band on your wrist, and whenever you feel like hurting yourself, snap yourself with a rubber band. Tell yourself that if you really still want to cut you can do it in ten more minutes. After each ten minutes, tell yourself you can wait ten more minutes. When you get upset, calm down and think about the situation before you jump to conclusions and cut yourself. Think about when you grow up and have children. What are you goign to say when they ask you what the scars on your wrists are for? Just know that there are always people who care about you and are willing to talk to you. Talk to a school counselor, physchiatrist, friend, or you can even email me even though you don't know me, I don't care. Just please don't hurt yourself.

Answer 8

find someone you are comfortable telling this to and talk to them about why you cut. Also the scares can be reduced with creams and other scar reducers, so they will not be as noticeable. The scars are because you injured the skin... regardless of depth you can still scar, but deeper cuts produce different scaring.

also you can find a support group online like www.recoveryourlife.com to help you and support you while you stop cutting.

Answer 9

First off, there's no such thing as "not deep enough."

Cutting usually isn't just for attention. Some people do do it for attention, but given that you find it hard to stop, I'm pretty sure you're not one of those people. You cut for a reason. It's a coping mechanism that you're using to deal with something. The best way to stop cutting is to figure out what's making you cut in the first place and find healthier ways to deal with it instead of hurting yourself. Don't focus on the cutting, focus on the underlying issues. Fix those and the cutting will go away on its own because you won't need to do it anymore.

It would probably help a lot if you could talk to a counselor about it. They can help you figure out what pushes you to cut in the first place, and how to deal with it instead of cutting. Ask your parents to take you to a therapist. If they don't think that the cutting is something you should get help with, it doesn't have to be because of that. Tell them that you're stressed out or unhappy and need someone to help you learn to deal with it. If your school has a counselor, you might want to talk to her first. She can help you figure out how do deal with your parents, and give you some information (probably in the form of pamflets and such) to pass on to your parents to help them understand what cutting is really about.

There are all sorts of things you can do instead of cutting, like snapping a rubber band against your wrist or squeezing ice cubes. Those help you get through an urge to cut without leaving any scars, but they don't address the real problem, so they aren't going to fix anything in the long run.

Answer 10

Cutting is not something that just goes away because you decide you aren't going to do it anymore. You need to talk to someone, like a mental professional. Or to your Doctor, who can refer you to someone who can help you professionally. Your scars are white because they were probably deep, but you have emotional scars that need taking care of too.

Answer 11

Hi!

Just the other day I answered another girl who was asking something similar to you, but her parents still didn't know. She didn't want to go to a doctor because she thought that they would tell her parents, but everybody that answered agreed that the best way out was to consult a specialist who by law may not disclose what you tell them.

From those answers, everybody, including other people who used to cut themselves, it was clear that you must find what makes you want to cut ourself so that you can work on getting it out of your life before it gets you.

I wish Yahoo had an index that one could use to refer people to past answers. I'll go see if I can find the question in my history, or have a look yourself. You'll want good warm support for this and its definitely out there!

Oh, yeah, something else you need to do is find something energetic to do to keep you busy.

P.S. Found the previous question and its answers:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AoCZOH9E_QfEcj6CGdJP_UHsy6IX?qid=20061206022056AAaSFDs&show=7#profile-info-96b53fca7a22525515673634be58cd15aa

Hope it helps.