I’ve myself had mental health issues and even felt suicidal. So I can understand cutting in a sense of trying to slice a wrist or something. However, some people just cut themselves for the sake of it. I’ve been on r/sillyboys subreddit and read stories of people cutting their arms or thighs and at times going too deep. But why? Why do these people cut themselves? I am really curious about it, but afraid to ask due to the heavy subject at hand.
Why do people with mental health issues cut themselves?
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Since you shitlords like to delete your posts, here’s an original copy of /u/lovingpersona’s post (if available):
I’ve myself had mental health issues and even felt suicidal. So I can understand cutting in a sense of trying to slice a wrist or something. However, some people just cut themselves for the sake of it. I’ve been on r/sillyboys subreddit and read stories of people cutting their arms or thighs and at times going too deep. But why? Why do these people cut themselves? I am really curious about it, but afraid to ask due to the heavy subject at hand.
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Because the physical pain distracts from their mental pain and blood-letting gives a visual of all the bad feelings leaking out and away.
I’ve been there. For me it came from intense self-hatred. Harming myself gave me control over how much I was punished. The issue is that I never felt like it was enough, so I was tempted to go further and further.
I suspect the exact reasoning is different from person to person, but thank God I pulled myself out of that one.
I never cut, but I self-harmed in other ways
It’s because the pain on the inside was so great, I had to do something to distract myself from it
It’s like how people with toothaches bang their head on the wall
Sometimes, physical pain is easier to deal with than emotional pain. It’s not a solution, but a cry for help. Let’s focus on supporting them, instead of just questioning their actions.
You’re trying to apply logic to something that by definition is doing things that don’t make sense.
Substituting mental pain for physical pain.
People will have different reasons one person told me that the pain distracted them from the emotional pain that they feel. Sort of like when people drink alcohol to distract from their emotions.
Physical pain releases hormones that counteract depression. But only for a short while.
When I would cut it was simply to feel something – anything other than the numb/empty feeling I was living with at the time.
Because they are legion and they are many
To make sure they aren’t a terminator.
Depression, overwhelming anxiety, stress, situations they cannot control is a big one, they can control the feeling of pain, so it was a coping mechanism they used.
Had an ex who used to do it more when drink or drugs were involved.
So having some intimate knowledge of this (not myself), a lot of it is social contagion.
If you are unwell, low mood, and exposed to other people and/or media who are self harming, it inspires an impulse. Same with some eating disorders and body image issues.
It becomes an outlet for the very real emotional and mental pain someone is going through, maybe the analogy would be like a lightning rod? All the pressure is building up, and an outlet becomes visible and allows a way to express that pressure.
That’s why it’s good to try to split people who are unwell from media and people that are showcasing self harm or other disorders and instead through therapies teach healthier ways to process this pressure. In school settings one person self harming can trigger a whole wave (because a lot of young people are having struggles at that time in their life, and seeing an ‘outlet’ causes a domino effect).
Obviously since the advent of the internet, it’s easier to find communities and be impacted by that social contagion.
The problem becomes a lot of harmful behaviours, once learned, can’t really be unlearned. You just have to learn skills to distract or replace from that “outlet” mechanism. Totally possible to do that! Just much easier to never learn or adopt the harmful behaviour in the first place.
Because rhe physical pain relieves the mental pain I assume.
I assume it has similar effects as wanting someone to hurt you sexually eg. rough anal
People self harm in many different ways. I used to cut as a teenager, now I use sex instead.
It’s a temporary outlet for, or distraction from, your mental pain & suffering
Watching the blood come out visually felt like a release of everything pent up inside
It’s primarily attention seeking behavior, with a little bit of bad coping. The person who cuts can show how damaged they are, virtue signal how tough they are, and show that they must receive attention as a result.