EFFORTPOST What is Self Harm and Why do People Do It? (Info + Interview + Videos)

Main Points:

Types of self harm:

Cutting or burning one's skin
Punching or hitting yourself
poisoning yourself with tablets or toxic chemicals
misusing alcohol or drugs
deliberately starving yourself or binge eating
exercising to much

This thread will mostly focus on Cutting although I encourage you to learn more about all of them

Biggest Question:

Why did you start cutting?

I first cut when I was like 8 or 9. I was frustrated and had heard about it from TV and pop culture. I thought it would be worth trying.

Recently my closest friend relapsed back into self harm, so I wanted to write this info thread to not only tell why someone might do it but to also get a users perspective!

Self harm comes in may forms, cutting or burning one's skin, punching or hitting yourself, poisoning yourself with tablets or toxic chemicals, misusing alcohol or drugs, deliberately starving yourself or binge eating, or exercising to much. Oxford defines it as:

"Deliberate injury to oneself, typically as a manifestation of a mental condition."

Why would someone Self Harm? In most cases, people who self-harm do it to help them cope with overwhelming emotional pain. This could be caused by social problems, trauma or psychological reasons.

Social Problems:

Being bullied
Having problems at work or school
Having difficult relationships with friends or family
Coping with expectations

Trauma:

Physical or sexual abuse
Death of a close family member or friend
Having a miscarriage

Psychological causes:

Dissociating - losing touch with who they are and with their surroundings
Having repeated thoughts or voices telling them to self-harm
Borderline personality disorder (BPD)

about 17% of all people will self harm in their lifetime!

45% of people Self Harming are using cutting.

The average age of onset for self-injury is 13!

Q/A:

Why did you start cutting?

I first cut when I was like 8 or 9. I was frustrated and had heard about it from TV and pop culture. I thought it would be worth trying.

Why did you continue to cut?

I liked it and felt that it helped me vent my frustration and depression as I wasn't being medicated at the time. Also at my height of cutting I was caught smoking and doing other drugs and my parents decided to outpatient rehab. I couldn't see any of my friends or use so the only thing I felt I could do was cut.

How destructive of a habit do you believe it to be in comparison to other ones such as Porn, Nicotine, Other drugs, etc.?

Cutting is really hard to stop once you get used to it. It can obviously get you killed if you cut too deep or something bad but it isn't as bad as something like heroin because hard drugs effect everyone in your life while cutting is easy to hide and don't do any damage to other people.

When my parents first found out I was cutting I didn't understand why it was a bid deal because I had been doing it for so long. I never really understood how much it hurts people around you until I found out my girlfriend was doing it.