I have just started cutting myself, and at first it was just to see if i could. i have generalized anxiety disorder and am on medicine that isnt working for it. i cant figure out why i feel i need to do it. other than it seems new and interesting. why does anyone else do it?

goodness thats a loaded question. :) but ill try and answer the best i can.

for me there are 3 main reasons

1: i was sexually abused by my father as a child. it has left me with horrible flash backs and a really bad anxiety disorder. when i first started doing it i would have a memory of what he did to me and i couldn't seem to forget about it and it would cause this horrible sense of anxiety. when i cut it would distract me. bring me back down to earth if you will. it helped me cope with the flash backs

2: it was the one and only thing i could control. i play basketball and in sports especially on the college level you are taught to suck it up and that any amount of physical pain is managable. you are suppose to work through the pain. with that mentallity i have gained a very high pain tolorence. BUT i had no skills to handle the emotional pain i felt sooo in my mind if i could turn the emotional pain into physical pain then i could handle it.

3: im an addict. i was addicted the first time i found out it worked for me like nothing else would. i am powerless to it. i hated myself so badly for it. the thoughts would come and id fight for a while and then id eventually give in. id feel better but guilty so then id start thinking about doing it again. it is a cycle im sure most all addicts know and know well. addiction is something i have in me. the only thing i can control is how i react to that.

im living recovery and loving it now! :)

i just want you to know that im here for you if you need to talk to someone who understands. much love friend

lauren

I think alot of people have alot of different reasons. For me its a coping mechanism when I dont knwo what else to do. I have a really ahrd time dealing with emotions and when i cut its such a release from it. I have alot of self destructive addictions, eating, drinking, drugs, sex, cutting, smoking and sometimes when i feel like i cant do anything else, especially while im trying to be sober, cutting is something i revert back to to help deal with all my anxiety and depression.

WOW interesting question, thanks for asking it! I have had freinds do this, and personally I never like being injured in this way. I worked for years with knives in kitchens, and never really liked being cut.

BUT, I am no psychologist, and my take on it is that:

We are constantly doing our best to see what we are made of, and taking a sharp object to ourselves is one sure way to get quickly in touch of what we are physically................and then there is the reality of being three-part-beings; Body-mind-spirit.

I hope this was useful, and that I did not sound too shallow, but I think this cutting thing can be done for a million reasons, but ultimately it is just your body you are damaging, and we are not all-body by any means.

Stonecarver5

It realeases endorphins. In my case I was self destructive to my property at firest. Somewhere along the line I realized cutting to be an effective though unorthodox coping mechanism.
I got put on some meds and worked many years. I can still be a snot but no more cutting, or destruction.
Perhaps you should do some study on scarification. Many cultures have very interesting rituals involving cutting of skin. I think there is this term. human archetype.

I cut more when I am so angry I cannot control myself, but also when I get so depressed, I feel lifeless. I have been really trying to control my cutting, since I have become sober, it has been more diffcult to control my cutting, especially when I am agitated.

I cry when I see the damage I have done but when that moment comes I am just cut off from my mind and everything. It is different for everyone.

I have been abused physically, sexually, emotionally, and mentally most of my life, I learned to live with pain, and that is why the pain does not bother me. I am trying to talk things out in therapy, my therapist and psychiatrist now know about my problem, so now I am kind of accountable which I never was before.