I didn't know where this would be best so I put it here, if it is the wrong section then please move it.

This is a topic of another forum I am a member of and has proved quite popular.

Anyway, what do you think of cutting (eg slitting your wrists or wherever). I know a few people who do/use-to cut themselves. Some people cut themselves for comfort, to escape from things or to ease pain. Others do it just for fun or to try and be cool.
The question is:
- Do you do it?
- And if so why?
- Alternativley you can just say what you think of it

I think cutting is fine if you are doing it to escape from things or to ease pain (eg loss of a family member). I have done this not for this reason but I have done it. I just found it helped with easing pain and I have know stopped. I stopped after about 5 months of doing it 2 years ago.

I have never tried it and I don't think I ever will. experiencing physical (wrongly spelled)
to escape from emotional pain? Meh, I'd rather listen to music, makes me forget about all my troubles. Besides, once the pain stops, back comes the emotional pain again.

The only things that should ever be cut are: bread, rope, and farts. Everything else is fine like it is.

Interesting views, but many people do it so why do you disagree? It is just a form of escape.

Don't believe in half way measures. I'd rather go to a funeral than a hospital. Food is much better

Very destructive behavior, and not recommended. I've been there when I was going through post-partum depression, and I did use cutting as a self medicating tool to cope with pain I was suffering through. Unfortunately, this kind of coping has its consequences, like what it does to your loved ones, and I almost lost my son, because of it.

There are ways to cope with pain in a more positive, and productive way. Self-mutilation is extremely unacceptable, and anyone that does it needs to seek help.

Gamerbird, I'm very glad to here that you stopped, and I do hope in the future you don't ever need to start it again. I know it is very addictive once you start. What stopped me was the fear of losing my son, and after five years of group therapy, medication, and counseling. I got through my severe depression.

Self-mutilation is nothing to minimize , and like any destructive addiction, needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible. Best thing to do is just don't start. It will ruin your life, and you think you’re in control, but your only fooling yourself.

I'm speaking from experience. Don't be stupid. Anyone that thinks it's alright needs to give their head a shake!!

Very ood advice from Carah there. I stopped because my friends started to hate me for it and I nearly lost everything, it got my family worried about it and started to watch everything I did.

Anyone considering cutting should listen to Carah.
I will hopefully never do it again.

reasons i understand:
-as body modification aka body beautification (well beauty is in the eye of the beholder tho)
-for suicide if you want that - but then sit in a hot tub and slit your wrists parallel to your arm as to really kill yourself
-to feel pain as to test your limits (stupid but each his own) - this pain doesnt give you the pain you get from accidents or fights anyway as it is controlled and also not adrenaline supported as much
-as an initiation rite in some tribes
-to forge a bloodbrotherhood

but i dont get why so many girls an now even boys do it as a relief... thats bloody stupid
if you want to feel pain go skateboarding/snowboarding,etc and give a *selfcensorshiprules* about your body... it hurts to crash believe me ... but you look a lot cooler than cutting yourself indeed

since a two years or so these people call themselves emo... wtf? lol...

some do it for satisfaction even... well sm gimps lol

many do it for attention...

the girls i saw doing it and liked i stopped... easy as that... hold their hands/wrists and look after the blade as not to get hurt yourself and ask em wtf they think theyre doing and why... then help em solve that problem or not...talking is enough most of the time... most stopped afterwards... and most reasons where stupid as hell lol... "my boyfriend made out with my best friend" and similiar... well make out with em yourslef lol theyll stop at least for the time being

smoking ganja seemed to stop most too...

and to be honest i think it looks bloody ugly...

also keep in mind drinking alcohol upfront will make the blood flow wilder...

< falling off soap box, laughing>

escaping from things does not work. Taking drugs or drinking to escape reality or "ease Pain" is a sign of a more serious problem. I'm very glad to hear that you no longer do this. I would never cut myself on purpose for any reason.

I never considered cutting my body. life can be painful enough as it is IMO.

Well...

I would never do that, if I have something to get off my chest, I would rather play guitar or play some violent PC game... I never thought of shedding my own blood, that is way stupid and irrisponsible, if you cant endure your pain then just quit living cause life is ruthless, cruel and you will have to endure much pain...

You know what's way stupid? That people form opinions like that, and haven't gone through it, or know people that have gone through.

I cut for about....7 months when my life was REALLY out of shape. Everything was going completely terrible. And with me too, I would play guitar to try and ease the pain, but that was not enough. I stopped because my friends started to worry about me, and got to the point when they were getting depressed becuase of me.

That was the main reason I stopped. I am glad to here you did stop before things got worse. I regret cutting as it has scarred me now and it is always on my mind.

I think this is a very personal matter and it is inappropriate to be talking about it on a forum with anonymous people. If you are so willing to bring up this topic here, you ought to talk to a doctor about it, someone who can give a very clear and definite answer to your opinions. I didn't read anything here except the first post, so I'm directing my answer to anyone in particular.

When you look back at the scars on your arm, do not blame sadness for it. Blame yourself. You cut your arm, not your sadness.

Couldnt have said better... The thing is, people always say "you dont know what I have been through" and yes I dont and you dont know what I have been through, if people will cut or suicide over their problems, the human race would cease to exist... Think about the 3rd world countries, where there is war, hunger, disease and political conflicts, tyrants mass murder, terror stalks the land... But they somehow survive, I mean think about the arab - Israel conflict, many people suffer because of it, many arabs (I cant spell the pallisteiien... argh sorry about that) and jews alike... After that what I have been through is like a walk in the park to them... I sympthise (spelling???) with your pain but cutting your arm is not the answer, or calling me stupid, right thekid345???

I don't mean this in an offencive way but why do so many of you have closed opinions on it?
It is something that happens so much and the people who do it don't need to be offended, they need help to get over/through what they are going through.

Honestly there are a few topics that I would consider inappropriate for discussion in an anonymous setting but this isn't one of them. I do not in any way advocate self mutilation but your body and your life is yours and yours alone. What you do with them is entirely your business and if you wanna cut on your self or even end your own life then hey, more power to you.

More on suicide:
There are many reasons to wanna leave this world and it is my belief that everyone should have the freedom to do so should they wish it. Yes, I know that in most cases it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem but who are you to tell me what to do with my life. It's mine and the deprivation of my right to end it whenever I see fit would only make me want to end it that much more for being deprived the freedom to do so.

Like the saying goes, "I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees."

There is absolutely nothing wrong with suicide, especially since there are over 6 billion people on this planet and it would only take 20,000 of them to repopulate it, so the old adage that "well if everyone who wanted to die was allowed to kill themselves the human race wouldn't be here" is not true. Do you honestly think that as soon as someone becomes the slightest bit depressed that they contemplate suicide? No, most suffer with depression for a long time while turning to everyone they can for help and only turn to suicide as a last resort to end the pain. Who are we to force people to live in pain.

I know what your thinking, "well what about the people that care about the ones committing suicide". Yeah I have heard that before and it's the most selfish load bull I ever heard. "Well I think you should continue to suffer in agonizing torment because I couldn't stand to see you go." Selfish, self centered and oppressive.

Besides anyone with a weak enough will to wanna die at the slightest bit of adversity deserves to die, that's natural selection, something we as humans have been subverting for way to long. To quote the late great George Carlin, "The kid that swallows to many marbles doesn't grow up to have kids of their own." If we wanna survive as the dominate species on this planet we have to stop propagating the weak and the stupid.

I'm sure many of you will disagree with me and that is OK, this is just my opinion.

One final quote to leave you with, Paul Mccartney:

"When this ever changing world in which we live in makes you give in and cry, LIVE AND LET DIE"

Cutting and suicide are entirly two different things. Most people who cut don't want to die, it is a way of coping with an internal pain (if you hurt more on the outside you can't feel the pain on the inside), or a person who is numb from pain; it is a way of checking if your still alive. Those who have never been there can not understand. People who drink and/or do drugs might, because all of it is a form of self medicating, a lack of coping skills, and too much trauma has affected their life. Instead of getting mad with the person suffering, they need support, and to know that they are loved.

I've never done it. I've been extremely depressed before. It was when this girl broke up with me. I was almost to the edge. This happened almost 6 months ago and I am still having a hard time. I have used physical pain to overcome my emotions, but usually I just try to kill myself doing pushups and such exercises. And running.

Although I've never done it, and doubt I ever will, I understand why people would do it. Cutting yourself is- like Carah said- a way of creating outside pain to deafen the inside pain.

However, I don't believe cutting helps anyone. What people need it to know that they're loved, and to know that people want them around and are hurt when they cut themselves.

I guess I think of cutting as a cry for help. It's easy to hide the pain inside, but when there are physical scars to show how much you hurt, then people will pay more attention to what you're feeling. I think if you cut yourself because your friends cut themselves, then that's just another way of going along with the trend, and that is entirely stupid. But if you're really, severely depressed, then I can understand why cutting yourself would be an escape from the pain.

I think it's sad that so many people are close-minded about things like this. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course, but shouldn't you look at a subject from all angles, instead of just standing behind one opinion? If people feel the need to cut themselves, then who are we to tell them that it's 'stupid' or 'pointless'?

Like Septim741 does, if your depressed then exercise. The more you do it the sexier you become. Then you can be happy knowing that the guy over there has a gut while you have a 6 pack. Cutting is pointless in my opinion because why dont you die like a real man. On the battlefield or by commiting Seppuku (ritual suicide commited by Samurai)

Nevermind, Seppuku is just like cutting but much faster, done with a sword, and it involves your stomach instead of your arm.

Well I guess Seppuku will be more painful, since after you stab yourself in the stomach, you need to turn the sword like a screw driver and pull it aside to tear your body... I guess wrist cutting in a bath and passing out from blood loss is much easier... In fact the easiest might be taking enough sleeping pills and lie down I guess...

I agree with Carah here and glad she raised this point, when I did it and I am sure about this with Carah, we didn't want to die, we simply wanted an easy way to cope with pain. All I needed to know, as Carah said, was that I was cared about by people, which during this time I thought I wasn't needed by anyone and got in their way. After this my friends and family all told me they cared and I stopped.

Cutting is something that you do to other people, not yourself!

Cutting and suicide aren't as different as you might think. Cutting is just the first stage and it will get to a point when it's not enough. You were just lucky enough to have been shown the love you needed to turn back from that path. Someone that practices such self medication in any form, be it cutting, drug abuse or alcoholism, they are on the same path and it ends in suicide. Whether it's a conscious decision to do so or just a case of over medication resulting in death. The problem for so many of these people is that they are either blind to the love that they have (which is the most common of these cases) or they are truly unloved and unwanted by the world they live in. If you think that the latter do not exist you are sadly mistaken my friend and there is really nothing you can do for them. Are you prepared to give them the love they need to wanna live? I know I'm not. So what is to be done? My opinion is that these souls should be allowed to vacate anytime that they wish. The former on the other hand can (most of them) be shown that they are loved and that life is worth living but the ones that can't deserve release from their hell on earth.

If you do love someone that is on this path then do everything you can to show them that you care and that others do too. If you can get them off of that path then that is truly noble and honorable but don't give up the all the good things in your life in the process because they might just take you down with them and there is no honor in sacrificing your own happiness for someone that is beyond all hope.

I wholeheartedly agree. Speak to a therapist. Despite not believing in it (probably because of hearing from my Mum my whole life that she had it) I was diagnosed with clinical depression about three years ago. They believed it probably started back in '99 when I lost my Nan. Anyway, they treated me with medication and I got back to being the person I hadn't even really realized had disappeared. We are fortunate enough to live in countries which DO have support systems. Find one for yourselves, please before resorting to such destructive measures.

I had a two year break from my IT career and worked as the assistant manager at a gay leather bar so nothing surprises me anymore as I've met people into all sorts of things. One friend from there does this in a sexual context and I tell him to his face that I still don't get it despite his explanations about the endorphin rush, etc.

the lass i dated a while ago did self harm a lot her arms were covered in knife marks not a nice thing i stopped dating her soon after

but it just wrong people think its a escape it just makes things worse and it builds up and up still you break

i had my share of scars...fights each one made a new scar if you self harm mate your just making a bigger scar on you life

Carth Onasi

As one who serves in the medical field, I am both ethically and professionally opposed to any sort of self-inflicted harm.
I personally find the concept of "cutting" to deliberately cause damage to one's own body, completely alien, though there are others who find my ability to place an intravenous catheter into my own arm equally alien.
I guess the defining difference, for me, is the intended end result.