Okay, my friend keeps self-harming, how do i get her to stop?

Question

She keeps cutting herself and she's done it for ages now. She won't get help and I want to help her, what should she do?
She is also bulimic (throws up her food.)

Please, please answer. I don't want her to die

Answer 1

Take her Marlyn Manson cd's away from her

Answer 2

As a former cutter myself, I suppose I could be a sort of.....expert on these situations.

Cutting is a result of severe stress, physical and/or mental abuse by a spouse or family member or even an addiction.

Some people say cutting is infact "not" addicting, I have to strongly disagree with this claim.

I suggest sitting down with her and telling her how you feel, tell her you don't want to lose her, you miss your friend.

Talking to a cutter or in this case, your friend..may work, and it may not.

Going to her parents or someone who has a sort of power over her may indeed make the situation worse, it could trigger what ever she is going through and make it even worse.

Counselling is usually the most recommended option.

If she is cutting with the intention of suicide, I strongly suggest seeking professional help from a person who actually cares about their patients.

If she is cutting due to addiction or just small slits here and there, I suggest talking to her about it, telling her the potentially fatal risks if she doesn't know what she's doing.

I recovered from cutting due to someone I cared about, someone I love more than life itself, perhaps you could make her realize she has someone special she could hurt if something goes wrong.

A warning though, depending on the mind-set, the person, the situation and the reason for cutting, this is a fragile situation and should be handled with care and caution.

I do indeed wish you the best of luck, if all else fails, your welcome to contact me under the name x0xfr3nzyx0x on Yahoo Messenger if you need to.

Answer 3

I have been self-harming now for well over a year, i have injured myself badly and often. There can be many mental illnesses that cause a person to harm themselves, they include borderline personality disorder, disociative identity disorder (formally multiple personality disorder) and impulse control disorders (just to name a few).. of note is that she has problems with purging her food, that is another characteristic of borderline personality disorder (which i have been diagnosed with).. please dont just ignore her, she already feels very alone i am sure and abandoning her will only fuel her desires to harm herself. Approaching her parents may also be harmful.

i think the best thing you can do, is research the subject (especially borderline personality disorder) and then perhaps you can talk with her about it, and maybe a referal to a counsellor for her to talk with about her issues.

Be assured of this, you are concerned that you friend may die, however a person who harms themselves more often then not is doing it to survive, doing it to releive themselves of emotional pain so intense that they can't verbalise it and so feel the need to experience physical pain. When they inflict themselves with physical pain this causes the body to produce large amounts of enorphines (happy hormones).. so self harming is a way of surviving not trying to suicide..

i hope this helps a little, and makes things a little clearer for you...

Answer 4

Sorry to hear about your friend!...
Shes lucky to have someone that cares about her like you do!...
The only way any type of help will work is if she is ready and willing to accept it!...unfortunately you or anyone else cant do it for her!...
All you can do is to be there for her!...let her know that she can trust you and you could let her know the dangers of both self hamr and bulimia and try to gentely persuade her to get help!...
Feel free to email me if you would like to talk...tell your friend that too!...im currently stuck in a cycle of self harm and an eating disorder so i can understand!...
Best of luck hun and stay strong!...
She'll break through this when shes ready!...
Take care...
The world would be a better place if there were more people out there to help their friends!...
Xox...

Answer 5

Hi, I've been going through this with a friend recently.

There are various websites you can go to and there are some self-harm groups that have like message forums. (I'll ask my friend for some links for you and post them asap)

If you have a school nurse - go speak to her and if it's getting serious she can go and drag your friend out of lesson and try and help her.

Make sure your friend knows you are there to support her, and offer to go with her to speak to school nurse, doctor etc.

I dont know where you live, but there are places that you can go to for councilling.

Samaritans will help, as will Child Line.

Try and get your friend to tell her parents, so she can get more support.

It will be hard, but just keep trying.

Your friend could try writing a journal - and try and find different ways of getting built up anger out.

Good Luck

Answer 6

This is a bigger issue than you can resolve. This friend is obviously in alot of emotional pain, since you probably dont know all the reasons she has lost her self worth (parents abusive or negligent?) you need to tell someone nuetral.
Go to a school counslor, teacher, someone you feel comfortable with because they have to report the issue to authorities so she is guarenteed to get help.
Then be there for her every step of her recovery.
Good luck.

Answer 7

She has self-hatred from physical or mental abuse by someone she cared about. They often feel rejected or abandoned. They can act shy and stand offish. She needs confidence and the Lord can deliver her and set her free from this. She has a self destructing spirit that needs to be cast out. If there is a Christian Deliverance Ministry (church) in your area - call and tell them what I said and what her problems are. They will get you some help.

Answer 8

The symptoms you have mentioned are mental symptoms. Out of all systems of Healing in Medicine, Homoeopathy has best remedies for such problems.
Please try to consult a good Homoeopath and she will get good improvement soon. But before that try to note down as many peculiarities she has including physical, mental, behavioural and modalities. She will get as much nearer to the correct medicine , as you are able to spell as many symptoms as possible. In Homoeo it is the patient by way of cooperation in giving symptoms will get his medicine, and not the physician giving the medicine by going through reports and disease name.

Answer 9

You need to tell her everything is ok. She wants to feel protected from herself. Let her know that you are there for her whenever and for whatever she needs you for, and that others are too. She has just overcared herself to deep depression with being worried about everything way too much. Medication and or supplements would be very valuble to get her mood up and her anxiety down. Gaba + 5htp for supplements.

Answer 10

you can't. she needs professional help - and even that may not work. i have a friend that's been cutting for 5 years, has battled with bullimia, depression. she's had the same psychiatrist for the past couple of years and just NOW decided to stop lying to him and actually has a full desire to get help. this is beyond anything you can do. best wishes to your friend.

Answer 11

She really needs counseling.

It is too late for you to do anything. Don't talk to her parents....bulimia and anorexia often begin because the family is too controlling.

Don't give her any positive reinforcement for her actions. In fact, you might want to distance yourself from her. Maybe this is wrong, but being supportive of those actions can sometimes reinforce them.