why do people that cut themselves when cutting  yourself Just adds more pain?
403249
You take out all the emotional pain you have inside your head and cannot talk to anyone about out on your skin. You want to feel something because you deaden yourself to the world when you are depressed.
847042
If you was walking down the street and saw somebody hitting there head against a brick wall, hard enough so that they started bleeding, you would think that something was seriously wrong with that person - and you would be correct.   \n\nCutting yourself is the same, it is self harm that is bought on by stress and the inability to cope and manage problems in a regular way.  \n\nIt causes ugly scarring but its main point is that it hides psychological scarring, that needs to be bought into the open so that you can maximise the enjoyment that life has to offer.
568540
Why do you want to know who is hurting themselves?
291868
Where did you cut yourself?  On the face, no it is not normal to have your hand go numb.   It may be a self protective reaction to stop you from further hurting yourself.
1111906
it ends up hurting yourself even more than it hurts others.
533762
Some people commit suicide because they aren't accepted in their society [like if they're gay or "ugly"], or thats what most of them think. Some people at my school cut themselves cause they think its cool o.o i thikn the best way to deal with pain and sadness is to talk to someone
1086952
maybe you just bit yourself and its blood
66371
when people cut them selfs they dont think about any thing so they really think that they will die
109848
Self-mutilation is usually not the problem itself, but a symptom of the problem. Speaking from personal experience, alot of "cutters" feel that the cutting is a release for the pain and frustration that they feel inside. I'm willing to bet that your friend is suffering from depression. This is not something that you can handle on your own. If you guys are minors, than you need to speak with her parents. They need to be aware of her problem so that they can seek professional help. She may be angry with you and feel betrayed at first, but she WILL realize one day that you did it because you care. She'll probably even be thankful! If, however, you're NOT minors, then you should gently tell her that you're concerned and think that she should seek help. Be sure to tell her that she's not crazy, and let her know that damn near everyone needs a little help sometimes. No matter what, let her know that you love her and will always be there for her.\n\nI hope this helps...good luck to you both...
123856
Many people who self harm are misunderstood. Obviously your friend needs help and perhaps that is his/her only way of letting people know about it. If you can, convince your friend to take up counselling or let someone who can do something about it know.YOu also hang in there. It must be hard to be close to someone who is hurting.
1163447
There are a lot of reasons people cut themselves.  If it's a close friend you're talking about, maybe you could ask her why she does it.\n\nFor some people, cutting is a way to get attention.  People tend to look down on people who do this, but really cutting for attention is an act of despiration, and definitely still means there's something wrong.  I've read about kids who cut for reasons like their sibling is really sick and they feel like everyone is paying attention to their sibling and ignoring them.  Or it might be because they're in a really bad situation at home or at school and don't know how else to ask for help.  Or it may just be that they have the kind of personally that likes attention.\n\nAnother reason some people cut is because they think it's cool. This isn't the case for most cutters, but some people, especially young teens, start cutting because their friends do it or because they think it will make them seem more grown up.\n\nThe last major reason people cut, and the hardest to understand, is to deal with emotional pain or stress that they can't deal with other ways.  People who do this will usually try to hide their cuts and keep it secret, so people tend to associate cutting with the first two reasons more than this one, simply because they don't know about this last reason.  For some people it basically serves as punishment for something they feel guilty about.  For some it makes them feel alive when they feel emotionally numb.  For others, it helps them deal with other things.  I'm not entirely sure why this last one works, but I think it is basically because the physical pain takes your mind off the emotional pain, and physical pain is easier to deal with.  I'm not sure that really explains it, but it's the best I can do right now.  If you want to know more about it you're welcome to email me by the Answers contact link and I can try to explain it a bit better.
780307
stop cutting yourself
901413
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
1047951
Cutting is primarily associated with Borderline Personality Disorder.  Perhaps you could look it up for further information.
782510
Well, they're two very different questions...And everyone has a very own reason for both.\nComman reasons for cutting involve things such as abuse, be it physical, mental, sexual, even bullying. Past events that still bother them, and problems that they haven't been able to let go of. Still there are a number of reasons I haven't mentioned. \nThe same goes for suicide. Don't generalise the reasons for the two though, and don't assume they are the same thing, or anything like the same.
1177028
As a self-harmer myself, not to mention someone who spent a lot of time counselling college students who self-harmed and running a self-harm community online – one of the first of it's kind, one that took a healthy attitude towards self-harm (rather than encouraging people to quit or glorifying self-harm) – no, I would not think badly of someone who self-harms. \n\nSelf-harm is too misunderstood still; it's the result of someone who for some reason lacked in social upbringing in the formative years and so lacks 'normal' coping methods. All is fine for most up until those teens' years where everything becomes so important and for some it is too much, things like break-ups and fights with parents can trigger off self-harm. It still saddens me that so many people try to stop, or are forced to stop through guilt through their loved ones, self-harm does not stop, you cannot reverse what made you who you are…you can only find out why you are who you are, discover your triggers, avoid those triggers and try to learn new coping methods. \nStopping self-harm itself is very harmful, it makes me sick that people are so closed minded to exactly what this problem is, it is not just attention seeking it is something that effects a person their whole life and not something they can safely just stop cold-turkey.
935455
Paper is glazed with a mineral (usually china clay).  When you cut yourself with paper, a small amount of mineral is left in the wound.  Because paper cuts are very fine, they start to heal almost immediately.  The presence of foreign matter in the wound as it tries to heal makes it hurt. (It's harmless but painful)\n\nIf you get a paper cut, wash it well under running cold water.  It will be less painful and it will heal more quickly.