how do i stop cutting?
140002
First things first, you need to take responsibility for yourself.  Stop saying things like "I can't stop cutting..".  You can stop, plenty of people stop all the time.  It's hard, but its not going to be the end of the world.  \n\nNow, you need to remove ALL sharp materials from your house.  That means every single razor, razor blade, exacto knife, kitchen knife, sharp bit of metal, staple remover (I had a fried try to cut himself with this, VERY VERY bad idea), hunting knife, pen knife, pocket knife, paint scraper, broken glass, and anything else you can think of.  \n\nIf they don't have practical or sentimental value, you need to take all this stuff, put it in a bag, and take it out of your house to the nearest dumpster.  DO NOT throw it away in your house garbage or outside trash can or even at school, that will just make it tempting to fish out.  They need to be disposed of in a way that will make it impossible for you to get them back.  Preferably somewhere gross (we had my friend bring his stuff to the food dumpster behind our campus dining hall.... very gross).  You have to do this yourself.  People can help you gather up your stuff, but you need to throw it away.  \n\nAnything sharp that you need (your family members will need things like steak knives) or that you are attatched to (your great grandpas pen knife) needs to go into a locked box or safe.  You can NOT know the combination to this safe or be given a key.  Keys should be given to your parents, with instructions to hide them.  And hide them well.  \n\nHopefully all this will make it really really difficult for you to cut.  Once it becomes this difficult, it will take real time, money, and effort to find sharp things, and that will give you the space to really decide if you want to keep cutting.  When you have to spend two hours tearing a room apart looking for a key to a lockbox, it becomes easier to see that you don't really want to be doing this.\n\nThis is what we did with a friend of mine, and with time, therapy, drugs, and commitment, he stopped cutting.  That was about three years ago and he is remarkably happy and well adjusted now.
281999
try tieing a plastic bag around you head real tight while you are cutting them.
470585
Just be his friend and try to get him to stop......If he continues to cut then tell someone who can help.
1121974
I am a recovering cutter myself so I can tell you that you cant do anything to make her stop. You can, however, help her by letting her know that you truly care and want to understand. Make sure she knows that whenever she needs to talk you are always ALWAYS available to listen to her. You might try asking her to call you whenever she fights with her mom or whenever her mom hurts her instead of cutting herself.\n\nPeople who cut themselves do sometimes have suicidal thoughts, but the act of cutting is not a suicide attempt in itself. Self-mutilation is a coping mechanism that people use to try to comfort themselves because "normal" coping mechanisms like running, writing, "take a deep breath", etc doesnt work for them. Because of this make sure you never refer to her cutting as wrong or bad or abnormal because its her last resort to deal with her pain.\n\nAs far as telling someone, I would advise you dont tell anyone just yet. Before you tell someone you need to talk to her about it and suggest that you can be with her when she tells someone. If she refuses to tell someone no matter how hard you try you need to tell her that if she doesnt tell someone then you will. Like someone else said, cutting is often a sign of some sort of mental health disorder and can be treated with medication and/or therapy. \n\nGood luck and if you have any more questions or your friend needs someone to talk to who's been through all this PLEASE dont hesitate to IM me on AIM at HeresToGoodnight. Or you can email me at my yahoo email adress and I will be more than happy to help you guys out. Good luck!
837650
Yea, it is sad that your family thinks that your cutting is a problem to them and worst that you dont seem to understand why it could be their problem. Strange, isnt it. Looking after you, feeding you, giving you a life to live, education (i assume they send you to school), not to mention above all this, that, your mom had you in her stomach for nine months, brought you out to this world, looked after every part of you...and its sad, to think that you cannot see why they would really think cutting your own body, and having over 500 visible scars, from the age of 12, is a problem to them. I wonder if you ever thought on how it would be if your mom felt that you were a problem and decided not to have you at all.......you wouldnt be here at this moment typing out this question...realise that ?\n\nAnd you think you should stop cos' your little niece would ask you why the scars ? That is if you are recognisable by the time your little niece grows up. You are 18, and by the time your niece grows up to ask you, I wonder if you would have any place left wihtout a scar for her to recognise you. But then, atleast you have realised you have to stop. Yes, you have to stop. You have a problem, and you need help. You have to start being more expressive, and control yourself from expressing it on your body by cutting yourself. \n\nNo one can give you a professional advise here. And everyones advise would be the same. Stop. Listen. Talk / express more, see a therapist and do positive things. Do anything it takes to get you better. Just about anything positive, which will not bring you shame at the age of 80, look back and you want to throw up on yourself.\n\ngood luck.
276803
Im not going to be one of those people who will keep badgering you on cutting, but please dont do it,  i did it before and it nearly ruined my life. if you want to hide it....\n\nunder you watch, you can put like a bandanda under your watch (or a scarf if its a fancy watch) and then it will cover that.\n\nor if their not that bad, try cover up?
387945
"Cutting," what you are doing, is very common (perhaps too common) among teenage girls.  It is seen as a cry for help.  Perhaps you should so your mom and explain this to her.  If you don't feel comfortable with that way, talk to a guidance couselor at school or another adult that you trust.  But please, please talk to someone!  Good luck.
499246
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.
741545
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
199381
dude i have the same problem and share your pain. i use to cut myself, but then it seemed so stupid so please dont do that.what really works for me is talking about my problems with my mom,sister,cousin or a really trustful friend, because they dont judge me based on what i say,do or feel.they will try to help you out as much as they can and understand what youre going through and give you advice. you dont need therapy to figure out whats wrong and waste all that $$ when you can talk to someone at home for free :)\nmusic=escape from reality
1115265
Cutting - I don't like knives.  I am submissive and will do as I am told but my master knows cutting is off limits and luckily he agrees.  .
1109904
talk to a close friend....thats what i did. and it turned out that she had almost started cutting so i kept her from starting and she helped me quit. it was so easy....but i didn't do it for very long. now when i feel stressed or depressed. i blast my music and clean or exercise instead of cut. and if that doesn't work...i have my friend on speed dial.
999203
One way is to stop hanging with those friends of yours who do it with you.  Stop calling them and don't answer their calls.  If you really want to quit, that should be easy. \n\nAsk a friend of yours who doesn't do crack if you could stay with her /him for awhile.  Be honest and don't put her/him though hell like you have so many others.   \n\nAlso make sure you have plenty of weed.  It makes it easier than cutting yourself off completely.
763877
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
969776
i cut to and im also 13. i'm getting help though and you can do the same. i promise.\nif you want to stop you need to go find help. speak to a counsellor, therapist, teacher, friend, parent...anyone. you've taken the first right step.....deciding to stop. \nyou can also find some sites on the web which help if you prefer. to find them simply google: stopping self-harm.\nbelieve me stopping takes a lot of dedication and self-determination. it's not going to be easy but i know you can do it.\nemail me if you need to talk. \nyou CAN get through this.\ngood luck xx\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBUBBLES....READ PLZ!\n\n\n\n\n\n\np.s. BUBBLES!!! i tried to reply to your email but it doesnt work. it says the emails not confirmed or something. what do you want me to do. do you have msn or something??? email me your answer plz!!
388913
For some reason, self injurious behavior is very addicting. Once you start, it's very hard to stop. I started cutting when I was 12--I'm now 28 and still fight the urge.  Since you just started, you need to work really hard at stopping.  If you feel like you really need help, you need to reach out to an adult that you trust and can talk to.  When you feel the urge to cut, call a friend or find another outlet---sports, drawing, working out, music, writing your feelings down, hobbies.  You need to get control over this now because the longer you do it, the harder it is to stop.\n\nI have an adult friend who also cuts.  She cuts to the point of having to go to ER.  So, this is very serious--if you don't gain some control, it'll control you and only get worse.\nIf you're suicidal, you really need to talk to your parents.  You may need some different meds.\n\nPlease find someone you can reach out to! And never feel like people don't/can't understand because there are many people who do this.  You're not alone.\n\nBest of luck to you!\n\nhttp://www.palace.net/~llama/psych/injury.html\nhttp://www.focusas.com/SelfInjury.html\nhttp://teenagerstoday.com/resources/articles/mutilate.htm\nhttp://www.coolnurse.com/self-injury.htm
916509
Yes you do need serious help! How can you slip your wrists????\nWe have all got problems in this life,....cutting ourselves dpesnt help us at ALL!!!!!\nFirst thing you should do is not go near you dads friend for  while and if he asks you anything just say that you didnt encourage her to do it ( which I guess is the truth..RIGHT?????)\nSecond you and your friend should stop 'CARVING' yourselves!!\nIf you have a prblem talk to your parents but if you're not the 'italktomyparents' type of person then talk to your friend!! (seeing as you both have a special friend connection ..COZ YOU CUT YOURSELVES TOGETHER!!!!!!). You could tell your friend your problems and she could tell you hers...be open and make sure the conversation between you two STAY between you two!.\nOh and one last thing.........I am a human being so I dont have the power to change people.........(if I could I would change soooooo many! ) so I cant change you if cutting yourself helps you live then do it...BUT NO TO DEEP!! AND NOT TO MUCH!!\n\nI have to confess I have also cut myself varios times! CALL ME EMO IF YOU WANT!! xDD