If I cut myself with a blunt object, it hurts more, so the cut is shallower than if I cut with a sharp blade. But the scar is worse because the edges of the wound are ragged, and these cuts tend to get infected more easily.\n\nIf I cut with a sharp blade, it doesn't hurt as much, so I cut deeper, but the scars are better because the wound edges are "clean" and not ragged.\n\nIs it better to keep the cuts shallow but get bad scars, or to cut deeper but minimise the scarring?\n\nAnd please, don't just tell me not to do it. I know it's a bad coping mechanism, and I AM getting help with it already. I just wondered what people thought would be best, shallow wounds with bad scars or deep wounds with minimal scars.
127951
I can't relate to this one,as I don't understand it,but I will say that it is a psychological coping mechanism that is a 'learned response'. \n\nSince it is a learned response it can also be reversed with the help of your psychiatrist. Call her as soon as you are able to. It sounds to me like things are getting worse for you instead of better.\n\nPlease take care and hang in there until you see her ok?
577717
No, you would have been considered evil if you had cut someone else-on purpose.  \nDid you cut yourself on purpose or by accident?\nHave you done this before?\nwhat made you want to do it?\nMaybe you are just curious about that stuff.  It is not healthy to cut yourself so you should seek help if this becomes or is already a habit.  \nYou are not insane or you would not have enough sense to address this issue or even worry that you may be endangering your self and your morals.
68471
I know someone who does it & I do it but I've found that when you wear a rubberband on your wrists and snap it whenever you feel like cutting it REALLY helps. I do it alot & it reduces the cutting but does not stop it. The only reason people do it is because they have alot going on in their life and they feel like it's the only pain they can control. If you need more info e-mail free_help2@yahoo.com or help_chitchat@yahoo.com they help people with lots of problems
228855
do NOT try to save her. i repeat that with a lot of emphasis. i know guys that try to save people...and it DOESN'T WORK. okay? i am a former cutter. and i can tell you that it is a horrible addiction. i don't even know how bad hers is...but the major threat (it's fatal) that there is is blood poisoning or staff infection. there was a guy that got staff IN THE HOSPITAL and died. i think it comes from blades, needles, anything...when you cut it can get in and be an instant death. i took a chance everytime i cut. tell her i'll talk to her if she wants. i'll talk to you if you want. IM me or email me right away. she could end up killing herself. especially based on how she cuts too. there's SO MUCH about it. \n\nthanks for answering my question.
269729
I don't know. But if you are cutting yourself at all, you need to tell someone (like a parent or doctor). This isn't "normal behavior", and could signify that you are suffering from a chemical imbalance in the brain that causes depression, among other things. Why do you cut yourself? Do you feel "relief" (from "anxiety, perhaps?)? How do you feel about your life, are you a happy person? Or do you "blame yourself" for lots of things (that are likely not your fault, although you may think otherwise)? Please talk to someone about this. If you are afraid to talk to someone you know, you can call anonymously to a counseling office. You can talk to me.\n-Tera (time4u420@yahoo)
372957
Are you trying to stop? If so, congrats! That's a big first step to take =) Anyways...\n\nFirst, you should research the topic so that you have an idea of what you are dealing with, with some tips on how to deal with it, tell others, and such. It might give you some insight to why you hurt yourself as well. A sight that gives a basic description is  http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/selfinjury.cfm  a good page with some links to other pages depending on what you need is http://teenadvice.about.com/od/cuttingbranding/  I would also suggest the site recoveryourlife.com  it is a site of self harmers, either who are trying to stop, have stopped and trying to keep from going back, or have stopped and want to help others quite. It's got a forum and a chat room. It is a very good site because it doesn't glorify or condone cutting (Such as saying things like "Cutting is awesome" or  "Do you know (celebrity name) cuts? that means its tight!"  or posting pics on the site for others to comment on and such. That doesn't mean the members aren't understand or cruel or whatever. They want to stop the problem, instead of encouraging it). \n\nA good thing to try is professional help. I got a counselor for my self harm issues, and he was understanding and helpful. Most councellors are not judgemental and do there best to help, though a few might not be able to help someone with self harm issues, just because they are not well trained in that area of psychology, but most are cool. He/she will help you uncover why you are hurting yourself, and try to stop the behavior. So i would suggest getting a counselor if possible, they can be a great help.\n\nAnother thing to do is to tell someone you love about this issue (if you haven't already). Self harming is a very hard thing to stop, much harder if you don't have someone helping you. Not trying to discourage you, it's just if you have someone helping and encouraging you along the way it is "easier" for you to quit. Tell someone you can trust and that won't judge you, and will listen to you. If you want to tell someone, here is a tip that will hopefully make it easier. (This is meant to be used in telling your parents, but it should work for anything really). You should write out a letter, explaining about the cutting, why you do it (if you know), some information about it (so that they can have an idea of what's going on), your point of view, etc... This allows you to get all of the things you want to get out out, so that you don't end up forgetting something if you tell someone straight forward. You can either give the letter to the person (or leave it somewhere they can find it), or use it as a guide to tell the person(s) directly. \n\nAlso, there are some tips to stop the urges to self harm. Here are a few:\n\n*Draw in red pen on the area where you usually cut yourself. *just ignore it and move on. ALL urges will pass in time, you just have to distract yourself until they do \n*Do something relaxing when you are stressed, take a warm bath, do a soduko, read a book, cross-stitch (that works for me) whatever makes you relax\n*Write in a journal how you feel when you want to hurt yourself, get your feelings out\n*Listen to music that either: 1. calms you down, makes you happy 2. music that talks about how you are feeling, like hurt, angry, etc... (be careful with this though, it could actually trigger you if you aren't careful)\n*Talk to anyone, not nessecarily about the cutting, just call up a friend to distract yourself.\n*Hit something (not yourself) like a pillow or something\n*Pray (if you are religious)\n*Just distract yourself in some way. The feelings will pass, you just need to give it time. \n\nThere are many more tips, but these are the ones i can think of off the top of my head. These are tips to deal with the feelings. Now some tips for the pain part. \n\n*Hold ice cubes in your hand. It gives you the pain
451015
YES!!!! you should definately be concerned!!!! your friend is trying to relieve anger/stress in his life by taking it out upon himself...which is not healthy at all...You should confront your friend saying that you are worried about him going too far and getting himself seriously injured! even if he admits that it will not go tnat far you should still encourage him to find alternative ways to vent out his anger...like grab a punching bag and beat the shit out of it...it works for everyone. As to him saying he likes the scars I think that is a cop-out to the real reason why he is doing it. Maybe the pain is a way to relieve his anger or maybe he feels that by burning himself, he can somehow forget the pain he was feeling and focus on the pain he is feeling due to the burning...and forget about the pain he felt and just remember the scars...but if it is not and he/she really likes scars. I would give him this advice: Scars are not cool....they are physical signs of how one has f'ed up in life, being a cut from a knife that slit his finger or arm, to a snowboarding accident that required surgery. Most scars are a visable sign to tell the wearer...damn I f'ed up Im not going to do that again...but he seems to not get the point. If you need nemore info please feel free to send me a message.\nThanks\nHope this helps
340164
I have been a cutter since I was 11...I am now 18. I have also been in and out of rehab. You need to take it a day at a time. I just kept telling my self " I am not going to hurt myself today" and if I had to say it over and over and over again, I did.  Try that... if you mess up, dont get upset, just keep going.. So what if you mess up, just keep trying not to do it...its not the end of the world if you slip up. I also paint...I find that able to get some of my emotions out. I havent  cut in maybe 1 month...and you know what treat yourself to things and do things for yourself since you deserve them. Someone told me that you have to be selfish and focus on yourself in order to get better. I hope what I've said helps. If you belong to a church you might want to get involved in group with people your age. You might be suprised I did that, and I found that people were going through the same things I was. \nYou can email me if you want to talk. \nSavedbygrace2_8@yahoo.com
184910
Cutting is often reported by those who do so, as a form of "release" from actually feeling NOTHING AT ALL. For others, it is an attempt to redirect the pain.  Some others do use it as a form of self punishment. It depends. Whatever the reason, it is not always just a representation of childhood grievances; like one of the others here said, you can have a fine childhood. BUT, if you have a mental illness which can be purely organic/biological then cutting is a symptom of some pretty serious personality disorders. Either way, a cutter's suffering is great and should not be taunted because of it. Many go to great lengths to hide it and are ashamed.  If you know someone with this behavior, they need help and support soon. People who are cutters have a very high rate of suicide, although the cutting itself does not often represent a suicide attempt but some have accidentally resulted in such because they cut too deep.
389666
STOP SELF HARM IMMEDIATELY!!!  It is an addictive habit that is very difficult to break.  You use this as a coping mechinism and eventually become dependant on it to relieve stress and unpleasent feelings that you can't mentally deal with.  The more you do it the deeper the cuts get and the more offten you cut.  I cannot stress enough--STOP WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!\nAs for the depressin feelings, see a Dr asap, it won't go away by itself, it will only get worse.  You can be depressed for no apparent reason.  depression is a disease caused by not enough happy-feel good chemicals (usually seratonin) in your brain.  The dr can give you meds that will help balance you and you can live a normal life again.  You may also consider counseling to help you learn to combat the depressing feelings.  Don't let your symptoms go too long without being treated.  especially since you are harming yourself.\n\npeace&hope
413080
Being a cutter is a hard thing. I have been there,and I just recently found out that my girlfriend was a cutter. I use to cut all the time,for any reason I could find. Once a cutter,always a cutter. I still fight urges to this very day,and knowing that my girl was a cutter..really makes me worry even more now. If you are serious about this girl,then you need to make sure to watch what you say about her cutting. Little things can set her off. Just always be there when she has her moments,and when she does cut,don't sit there and lecture her..sit there and love her,and show her how much you care. Having someone be there for me is what made me want to stop,knowing that someone was always there when I needed to talk.
513650
I would rub in Vitamin E Oil the best you can afford,as that will help in reducing scar tissue...\n\nI know it's a touchy subject but what about going to chemist/drugstore and asking chemist his recommendations,\nbut would you be prepared to discuss this with chemist openly,?\n I admire you getting cut so late in life..Ouch..cheers
491797
I'm an ex-cutter myself; congratulations on giving up the habit--we both know that takes guts. Tell you the truth, it isn't as "bad" as people think it is; it's just socially unacceptable, dangerous in a minor way, and an ineffective way to cope with emotional problems.\n\nCutting is very socially unacceptable, except in very specific cultures--it might be accepted among "goths", or, if it is decorative, among people who are into body modification.\n\nHere's why cutting is socially unacceptable:\n\nWe are all born with a huge instinct for self-preservation. People do amazing things when their lives are in danger; look at any account of people who have survived things like fires, or being trapped in the wilderness, or plane crashes... Human beings are very, very motivated to survive.\n\nThe very strange thing is that you probably cut yourself because it was a last-ditch effort to survive. But other people didn't understand that.\n\nThere's a visceral reaction that people have when they see someone else with an injury--a psychological sympathy-pain reaction, I suppose. Whenever I see someone else with an injury, I know I kind of cringe in sympathetic pain... I don't know if you feel it the same way, but there's always a sort of knot in my stomach when I see someone else has been injured.\n\nThe second reason is that people see anyone who hurts themselves deliberately as mentally ill, and that there is a huge stigma associated with mental illness.\n\nBecause cutting is so "dramatic", and people can't imagine themselves doing it, they often think that it is much more severe than it actually is, or that it is a suicide attempt. In reality, superficial self-injury is usually an indicator of a relatively common mental illness like depression.\n\nPeople are afraid of those with mental illnesses. There are a lot of reasons for that:\n--Horror movies have a lot of villains who are psychopaths or otherwise insane... Despite that a murderer or other violent criminal is very likely to be perfectly sane, people associate mental illness with violence.\n--People are often afraid that they will "catch" your mental illness.\n--There's a certain social code that people follow. Whatever language you speak, that's only about half your communication to other people. The other half is nonverbal... gestures, clothes, the way you walk, your posture. People with mental illnesses often don't follow these unwritten codes; and people who see them don't "speak" the same nonverbal language. Therefore, people will often ostracize those with very mild problems... just because they can't predict their nonverbal actions.\n--People are afraid of what they don't know and can't predict. Prejudice against the unfamiliar--whether it's a different culture, or a different sexual orientation, or whatever--is very common. And those with mental illnesses, even common ones like depression or PTSD, are just different.\n\nWhen people see your scars, they know you have broken a taboo: The unwritten rule that one must always act to protect one's physical health. That rule is imprinted on your instincts.\n\nThe reason you broke that rule is because you knew that, with your limited options, you might hurt yourself worse if you didn't hurt yourself superficially. It's like getting a splinter out of your skin, so it doesn't get infected... It hurts, but it'd hurt a lot worse if you didn't.\n\nBecause you had limited options, you chose to hurt yourself in a small way to avoid big emotional pain. Now that you have more options, mentally and emotionally, to deal with emotional overload, you no longer need such a drastic coping strategy. Cutting really doesn't work all that well, anyway; so once you find a better way to deal with life, why go back?\n\nBut people don't understand that you felt you hadn't any other options. They jump
316579
hello I had to have my gallbladder taken out. it wasn't bad at all. I only hurt for about 2-3 days and was back to a regular routine and the scars are not very big at all. They are relativly small. You will do fine. Its really not as bad as it sounds! Good luck
636925
Yes, I cut myself to release stress, frustration, and other things I can't deal with any other way.  Whatever people say, it works.  But it also has some unfortunate consequences.  For example, I'm working in New York this summer, where it's currently close to 90˚F (or it was during the day anyway), so the whole wearing long sleeves every day thing isn't so much fun.  And I'll be in real trouble when I'm in Mexico later this summer and want to be able to go swimming with my family, who don't know I cut (and aren't going to).  There's also the potential for infection and the likelyhood of scars.  That, and bandaids are really f***ing expensive.  But probably the biggest problem is that it's addictive.  When I first started cutting, I could have stopped any time I wanted to (or at least, I felt like I could).  Three years later, I've tried to stop and failed.  I can sometimes even go a couple months without cutting.  So the bottom line is don't start, and if you already have, get out while you can.\n\nInstead of hurting yourself, try taking whatever it is you'd use to hurt yourself (especially if you cut yourself), and apply it to cardboard instead.  If your particular form of self-harm involves bleeding, try drawing on your skin in red pen or marker.  I've also heard that snapping a rubber band against your wrist can help, but I found I just wanted it to hurt worse and I just made me want to cut more.\n\nYou're right that you need someone to help you.  You should talk to a doctor (personally, I've thought about going to the campus health center several times, but have yet to work up the nerve to actually do it), or if you're in your teens, a parent, teacher or other trusted adult, or if you're older, a close friend.  I know it's hard to ask for help (believe me, I've spend three years not being able to make myself do it), and if you want someone to talk to in the mean time you're welcome to email me at emilyrose1986@yahoo.com.
661501
You have to choose the right person to tell, someone you're close to, or your therapist (if you have one, if not, I recommend it).  I've found it easier to tell people things by email or over IM, and not in person.  But it actually might be easier to tell a therapist, since she or he probably won't judge you for it, or at least not as much as someone you're close to.  As a former cutter myself (haven't cut myself for any reason for about 2 1/2 years), I would recommend DBT (dialectical behavior therapy, also a common treatment for borderline personality disorder, but it's effective for other things as well).  It IS possible to stop, and it does get a LOT better.
351375
most people associate it with suicide because a lot of people only know cutting as slitting your wrists, the maximum form of cutting on the wrists. most people cant understand how hard it actually is to do that (at ur wrists u hav tendons to go through) and that a lot of cutters dont even go that deep. also, cutting anywhere else is seen as a baby step towards slitting your wrists since it isnt as severe and as common. personally i dont want to stop or get caught so  i cut on my thighs or ribs, it hurts more and gives a better after effect (i can actually feel something!) and since no one sees no one thinks it just attention getting. but when i used to cut on my wrists i did it and didnt let anyone see, if sumeone is seeing and saying things to u then maybe u need to hide it better. i like the feelings i get, becuz i get to feel sumthing rather than nuthing, but if u want to continue cutting and not get sent away i would suggest hiding it better. people cant understand the feelings that mean cutting without suicide and they cant comprehend wanting to cut so they throw it into a suicide attempt, and letting people see can b a call for attention and u dont realize it now. so hide it or consider stopping, but i cant reach since i cut. i just advise u to hide it better and no one will b able to say anything...