the cutting thread

[twilightcrimson7]

Nice of you to admit that. I agree that writing helps the pain alot! Bus sometimes you don't even know what you feel, and that's what causes the most pain. You yearn for the numb sensation to delete the pain, even if it is temporary. I will try to stop myself from doing this. if i feel like I want to, i'll go online an talk, or write in my notebook. I'll try. btw: thanks for your support Heart_LP! *hug*

[Marizka]

Nice of you to admit that. I agree that writing helps the pain alot! Bus sometimes you don't even know what you feel' date=' and that's what causes the most pain. You yearn for the numb sensation to delete the pain, even if it is temporary. [/quote']

 

exactly, your putting my thoughts into words, I write first, before id cut myself, but when you dont know how you feel, it's soo hard to write it down.

[Heart_LP]

yep that´s so true!

but sometimes It´s like no one cares for how I feel..

löike for instance I´ve just a made a journal here cause I thought that I could write down how I feel at times and times and it seems like when I feel pissed or something and write down..no one cares so I dont write anything about it anymore..unless I´m really pissed!

I´m not that good with dealing with my feeling and problems so sometimes I just dont know what to write down.

and Tc7, you can always count on me for any kind of support and so can other ppl here cause I know how it feels. *hugs ya back*

Clogz, I think it´s good that you admit it..my parents know that I cut myself and they tell me to just admit it but never in my life will I admit to them cause I know they will be wanting an explanation then so me and my cat excuse are fine..

[Chestersbabi7]

I feel like cuttin now...urr...

[Heart_LP]

why not try to keep yourself busy with something else...

hope you feel better

[twilightcrimson7]

yep that´s so true!

but sometimes It´s like no one cares for how I feel..

löike for instance I´ve just a made a journal here cause I thought that I could write down how I feel at times and times and it seems like when I feel pissed or something and write down..no one cares so I dont write anything about it anymore..unless I´m really pissed!

I´m not that good with dealing with my feeling and problems so sometimes I just dont know what to write down.

and Tc7, you can always count on me for any kind of support and so can other ppl here cause I know how it feels. *hugs ya back*

Clogz, I think it´s good that you admit it..my parents know that I cut myself and they tell me to just admit it but never in my life will I admit to them cause I know they will be wanting an explanation then so me and my cat excuse are fine..

 

you're too nice to me!

I feel bad now. I promise to read your journal from now on, k?? I'll listen to you *hugs*

[Heart_LP]

you're too nice to me!

I feel bad now. I promise to read your journal from now on, k?? I'll listen to you *hugs*

aww dont feel bad! it was not supposed to make ppl feel bad!!

but thanx for reading my journal! *hugs ya back*

[twilightcrimson7]

*never ending hugging cycle* no prob!! ^__^ and thanks for reading mine!

 

Oh btw, cb7, I get urges too, and it's painful to ignore, but its worth it. idk about you, but I feel shitty and shameful after I harm myself...

[Heart_LP]

haha *hugs you again*

no prob!

 

I feel really bad after I cut myself too, for instance yesterday without any reason I started to feel really bad and wanted to cut myself so I just went out of the house aand there a place there I always go when I feel depressed..itá beatiful there..you can see all the stars and everything so it´s makes me feel calm when I see it..Idk why..and I just mumbled LP lyrics and did´nt cut myself..

this is what I normally do to ignore it.

sometimes it helps, sometimes does´nt.

[twilightcrimson7]

*permanently attches self to Samira* mauahahaha

 

wow...that truley inspired me...how beautiful! -^_^-! I'm proud of you!!! *tear*

[Marizka]

..on no big trouble, had to delete this message

[Heart_LP]

*permanently attches self to Samira* mauahahaha

 

wow...that truley inspired me...how beautiful! -^_^-! I'm proud of you!!! *tear*

 

lmao! aww how sweet of you!

I´m glad that it inspired you

well, we are attched now!

thanx hon!

[LPGotLinkinPark]

I will actually admit that, I have cut three times. It was last year, in fact.

I've found it much better to just write. Heck, post a journal on here and whenever you want to cut, just type all of it in your journal or something. There are better ways to deal with these emotions and betters ways to bring them out.

For some people it's not so easy to write their emotions in words.

[ForgottenKid]

GotLinkinPark?']For some people it's not so easy to write their emotions in words.

 

[LP]GotLinkinPark is right. If you do go for help and you have a hard time trying to let go of all the things you keep bottled up, people do make you write things down.

[LPGotLinkinPark]

GotLinkinPark?']Hmm.......What I mean is' date=' I'll will try to find the article so I can post it. The real question is, what do [i']you[/i] mean? I can't understand what you type.

I posted this a while back. I found the article if anyone cares to read...

 

What is self-injury?

 

It's called many things -- self-inflicted violence, self-injury, self-harm, parasuicide, delicate cutting, self-abuse, self-mutilation (this last particularly seems to annoy people who self-injure).

 

Broadly speaking, self-injury is the act of attempting to alter a mood state by inflicting physical harm serious enough to cause tissue damage to one's body.

 

Approximately 1% of the United States population uses physical self-injury as a way of dealing with overwhelming feelings or situations, often using it to speak when no words will come.

 

What is self-injurious behavior?

 

The forms and severity of self-injury can vary, although the most commonly seen behavior is cutting, burning, and head-banging.

 

Other forms of self-injurious behavior include:

carving

scratching

branding

marking

burning/abrasions

biting

bruising

hitting

picking/pulling skin and hair

 

It's not self-injury if the primary purpose is:

sexual gratification

body decoration (e.g., body piercing, tattooing)

spiritual enlightenment via ritual

fitting in or being cool

 

Why does self-injury make some people feel better?

 

It reduces physiological and psychological tension rapidly.Studies have suggested that when people who self-injure get emotionally overwhelmed, an act of self-harm brings their levels of psychological and physiological tension and arousal back to a bearable baseline level almost immediately. In other words, they feel a strong uncomfortable emotion, don't know how to handle it (indeed, often do not have a name for it), and know that hurting themselves will reduce the emotional discomfort extremely quickly. They may still feel bad (or not), but they don't have that panicky jittery trapped feeling; it's a calm bad feeling.

 

Some people never get a chance to learn how to cope effectively. One factor common to most people who self-injure, whether they were abused or not, is invalidation. They were taught at any early age that their interpretations of and feelings about the things around them were bad and wrong. They learned that certain feelings weren't allowed. In abusive homes, they may have been severely punished for expressing certain thoughts and feelings. At the same time, they had no good role models for coping. You can't learn to cope effectively with distress unless you grow up around people who are coping effectively with distress. Although a history of abuse is common about self-injurers, not everyone who self-injures was abused. Sometimes invalidation and lack of role models for coping are enough, especially if the person's brain chemistry has already primed them for choosing this sort of coping.

 

Problems with neurotransmitters may play a role. Just as it's suspected that the way the brain uses serotonin may play a role in depression, so scientists think that problems in the serotonin system may predispose some people to self-injury by making them tend to be more aggressive and impulsive than most people. This tendency toward impulsive aggression, combined with a belief that their feelings are bad or wrong, can lead to the aggression being turned on the self. Of course, once this happens, the person harming himself learns that self-injury reduces his level of distress, and the cycle begins. Some researchers theorize that a desire to release endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, is involved.

 

What kinds of people self-injure?

 

Self-injurers come from all walks of life and all economic brackets. People who harm themselves can be male or female; straight, gay, or bisexual; Ph.D.s or high-school dropouts or high-school students; rich or poor; from any country in the world. Some people who self-injure manage to function effectively in demanding jobs; they are teachers, therapists, medical professionals, lawyers, professors, engineers. Some are on disability. Their ages range from early teens to early 60s.

 

In fact, the incidence of self-injury is about the same as that of eating disorders, but because it's so highly stigmatized, most people hide their scars, burns, and bruises carefully. They also have excuses ready when someone asks about the scars.

 

Aren't people who would deliberately cut or burn themselves psychotic?

 

No more than people who drown their sorrows in a bottle of vodka are. It's a coping mechanism, just not one that's as understandable to most people or as accepted by society as alcoholism, drug abuse, overeating, anorexia and bulimia, workaholism, smoking cigarettes, and other forms of problem avoidance.

 

Okay, then isn't it just another way to describe a failed suicide attempt?

 

NO. Self-injury is a maladaptive coping mechanism, a way to stay alive. People who inflict physical harm on themselves are often doing it in an attempt to maintain psychological integrity -- it's a way to keep from killing themselves. They release unbearable feelings and pressures through self-harm, and that eases their urge toward suicide. And, although some people who self-injure do later attempt suicide, they almost always use a method different from their preferred method of self-harm.

 

Can anything be done for people who hurt themselves?

 

Yes. Several websites offer self-help ideas. Many new therapeutic approaches have been and are being developed to help self-harmers learn new coping mechanisms and teach them how to start using those techniques instead of self-injury. These approaches reflect a growing belief among mental-health workers that once a client's patterns of self-inflicted violence stabilize, real work can be done on the problems and issues underlying the self-injury. Also, research into medications that stabilize mood, ease depression, and calm anxiety is being done; some of these drugs may help reduce the urge to self-harm.This does not mean that individuals should be coerced into stopping self-injury. Any attemptsto reduce or control the amount of self-harm a person does should be based on the person's willingness to undertake the difficult work of controlling and/or stopping self-injury. Treatment should not be based on a practitioner's personal feelings about the practice of self-harm.

 

What problems may be encountered when getting professional help?

 

Self-injury brings out many uncomfortable feelings in people who don't do it: revulsion, anger, fear, and distaste, to name a few. If a medical professional is unable to cope with her own feelings about self-harm, then she has an obligation to herself and to her client to find a practitioner willing to do this work. In addition, she has the responsibility to be certain the client understands that the referral is due to her own inability to deal with self-injury and not to any inadequacies in the client. People who self-injure do generally do so because of an internal dynamic, and not in order to annoy, anger or irritate others. Their self-injury is a behavioral response to an emotional state, and is usually not done in order to frustrate caretakers.

 

What problems may be encountered in the emergency room?

 

In emergency rooms, people with self-inflicted wounds are often told directly and indirectly, that they are not as deserving of care as someone who has an accidental injury. They are treated badly by the same doctors who would not hesitate to do everything possible to preserve the life of an overweight, sedentary heart-attack patient. Doctors in emergency rooms and urgent-care clinics should be sensitive to the needs of patients who come in to have self-inflicted wounds treated. If the patient is calm, denies suicidal intent, and has a history of self-inflicted violence, the doctor should treat the wounds as they would treat non-self-inflicted injuries. Refusing to give anesthesia for stitches, making disparaging remarks, and treating the patient as an inconvenient nuisance simply further the feelings of invalidation and unworthiness the self-injurer already feels. Although offering mental-health follow-up services is appropriate, psychological evaluations with an eye toward hospitalization should be avoided in the emergency room unless the person is clearly a danger to his/her own life or to others. In places where people know that self-inflicted injuries are liable to lead to mistreatment and lengthy psychological evaluations, they are much less likely to seek medical attention for their wounds and thus are at a higher risk for wound infections and other complications

 

 

 

Sorry if parts are wierd cause it was messed up and I tried to fix it.

[twilightcrimson7]

that was highly interesting.

[LPGotLinkinPark]

Yes, it is. When I first read it on my friend's Xanga (that's where I found it) it made me cry. I guess I am just worried about her. She seems to be doing fine now though. I don't know, haven't asked about it.

[Marizka]

yes, very interesting..tnx for posting it, It made stuff alot more clear to me.

[Heart_LP]

great article thingie...thanx for posting it..I found the "Why does self-injury make some people feel better?" part very interesting..

I hope lpp could read this...

[LPGotLinkinPark]

I'm not sure that part applies to me though. I just tried it to reduce emotional pain or whatever and I like it.....I don't know if that made any sense there.

[Marizka]

Why does self-injury make some people feel better?

 

It reduces physiological and psychological tension rapidly.Studies have suggested that when people who self-injure get emotionally overwhelmed, an act of self-harm brings their levels of psychological and physiological tension and arousal back to a bearable baseline level almost immediately. In other words, they feel a strong uncomfortable emotion, don't know how to handle it (indeed, often do not have a name for it), and know that hurting themselves will reduce the emotional discomfort extremely quickly. They may still feel bad (or not), but they don't have that panicky jittery trapped feeling; it's a calm bad feeling.

 

that part was very interesting, cuz i didnt really understand why it makes me feel better, i still dont do completely, but it's more clear.

 

What is this Xanga?? ive heard more about it but i dont know what it is?1

[LPGotLinkinPark]

It's like an online journal thing. I don't know cause I don't use it. I just copied it from my friend's.

[Dark Rain]

FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i relapsed last night...i dont even know y...i just kinda looked at my swis army knife... and set up for a cut...

 

i put the lighter to the blad to clean it... washed it off...and went to town...

 

all the way around my arm i have quick 1-2 in long cuts... i planned it to be able to cover it with my LP wristband...

 

then after i finished...i took some first ade cleaning pads and cleaned the cuts... put some gause over them...fastened it with medical tape...and put the wrist band over them... no one the wiser...

 

but now i'm all self conscious... what sux worse is i was goin on almost a year w/o cutting... and last night i just did it...i wasnt too depressed... (though maybe my hearbreach finaly built to the point were i needed an outlet... after being passed up by the girl i had fallen soo hard for)

 

*sigh* well...i just gotta try no to draw too much attention to my arm for the next week and a half...

 

fuck, shit, damn, and other such explitives!!

[SpikeMinoda14]

Damn...i'm really sorry Dark Rain...I hope you feel better that

you got it out....i just wish there was a beter way

than that,i usually try to use that as a last resort.

[uwantme2b]

Dark Rain, slip-ups are a part of recovery. We all get them.

 

I'm kinda scared right now, as I said in my journal... I stopped cutting some time ago but I keep feeling like I need to do it again... I sooo don't want to start that sht up again but it's a strong emotion... I don't feel in control of it... help