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[SilverAlchemic 355]

That

wasn't even intentional

 

Hell, I feel bad about that one.

[Knuckle 484]

Don't feel bad, it's clever and you weren't being mean or something

[PrimaGaga 1025]

I swear As someone who used to self harm I just can't respect posting your self harm online. I tried to hide my cuts and I still hide my scars. I hate it when people do stuff like this solely for attention and for no other reason.

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

lol, wanting attention is the only reason self-harm is a thing. There's not a noble or logical or "real" reason behind it. Whether you're waiting for someone to see the the cuts on your arm in-person or whether you post it online, it's the same thing. 

 

Don't try to draw a line of distinction between "real" self-harmers and the self-harmers who only want attention. Having childish suicidal tendencies probably aren't things you should be elitist about. 

Edited 28 Jan 2014 by °ᵕ° (see edit history)

[Sayubie 405]

Using "childish" seems harsh :/

 

^And I had a lot more fluff in that up there but I think I'll be a bit more direct for this

[Chase 390]

No, I think childish is a good way to put it. It's not necessarily a slam. A lot of unnecessary stress, pressure, and responsibility are put on children, especially teens (who are most likely to self-harm).

 

You feel like everything/everyone is against you. I know exactly how that feels. As I grow older, I gain more independence and personal responsibility, and self-harm just doesn't make any sense. At least, not direct self harm. Cigarettes and binge-drinking are still things that people my age, and older, deal with on a daily basis. 

 

Self-harm, like cutting, seems like the only part of your life you have direct control over as a teen. I've never cut myself, but I've had friends who did it. I empathize with them, but it doesn't make it okay to hurt yourself, no matter the situation. Cutting, suicide, etc. are never the answer. Those options are only considered if a person has a very cynical/narrow viewpoint, and feel closed off or ostracized from the rest of society. If they would open their eyes, they would realize that the world isn't quite as hopeless as they came to view it and there ARE people out there who really do care and would be willing to help them work through it.  

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

Last night I said to myself "I wonder where Chase went?" 

 

My prayers were received. 

[pheonix561 2080]

(I was literally also wondering the same thing yesterday)

I usually dont get involved in serious discussions on Hnet, but my friend and I were talking about how cutting is the weirdest thing. As in, some kind of phenomenon that came about with our generation that you barely ever heard about occurring in previous ones. We were wondering why it's so popular with us and not with any other generation.

[PrimaGaga 1025]

Only 90's kids remember cutting.

[Sahaqiel 1232]

My impression is that cutting just happened one day, and the juxtaposition of pain and relief made it seem like a good idea to other people. Like "that's so crazy, it might just work!" or some similar sentiment. "Woah, inflicting physical pain and bloodletting to relieve emotional pain? That's deep!" Media tends to romanticize the act, or the scars. Maybe those people think they really want to die, but are actually afraid of dying, and just want to feel as close to death as possible. I don't think most cutters don't get that extreme, though. I do think a lot of them do it for attention. I know a girl who will burn herself with a lighter in a neat little line if her boyfriend takes away her cutting tools, and it's purely for attention. It makes me so angry, but then, she's legitimately bipolar. I don't know what to do. Trying to pry exposed razors or lighters from someone who is in an actual frenzy will probably hurt more people more severely than if I just let her do it, because she's at least cowardly enough to cut shallow.

 

I can't say for sure, I haven't ever cut myself on purpose, and I don't have any serious mental issues running around my head, so I've always felt the need to do better rather than to fall into despair. Despair is a really awful thing to have, so I don't make light of anyone else's, but there are better things to do than cut, and I'm sure all the sincere participants know that. I feel like it might be that self-destructive drive that people get when they're down, like smoking or drinking your problems away. You're destroying your body, and you know it, but that's why you do it, but I think fear is a big part of it. You think you want to die, but you really don't, so you just do a safe, controlled practice that you can pull out of if it gets too serious, like fights that start school only because the participants know a teacher or student will break them up before it gets too bad.

 

All I can really say is that there are a lot better things to do than self-mutilation, self-deprication, and perpetuating the feeling that you're worth so little to the world that you can get away with those things; things that are a lot more intelligent and honest. Even if you still believe, perhaps, that you're not good enough to remain a stable human being, maybe you can prove to yourself that you are, but cutting and feeling sorry for yourself isn't the way to do it.

[PrimaGaga 1025]

Sometimes i have a really strong desire to cut myself like i used to. But i usually try to dwell on the fact that i havent done it in so long (barely over a year now) and starting again would be super counter productive to all the work ive done to stop it. But if i had to tell you the biggest reason for my personal cutting- although there were many lesser reasons- itd be because it gave me a false sense of power and self control. I could end it at any moment by slicing a few centimeters in another direction, or wutever. It'd be me who ends it. It'd be me who decides when enough is enough. It's like standing on the edge of a tall building and then deciding whether or not i really wanted to jump. I dunno if any of this makes sense, but it does/did to me. Though im sure people self harm for other reasons too.

 

I saw this girl on tumblr who "tried" to cut the fat off of her thighs (she was really just slicing them) and she blamed it on skinny people. Not skinny people who tease and harass her. Just all skinny people. At least thats how she described it in her post. Oh, some people, i swear. Though i suppose my reasons werent super noble either. 

[LLmao ?✊? 1276]

.-.

Edited 28 Jan 2014 by °ᵕ° (see edit history)

[Sahaqiel 1232]

There are probably a lot safer and less horrifying ways of getting rid of body fat than cutting yourself. Diet and exercise, for one. :S I don't get it. Like if bad food tastes so good that you feel bad to eat good food and exercise, isn't that kind of pain a lot better than inflicting damage to your body that fixes nothing? Like "healthy food tastes bad and it hurts to exercise". But then, you just feel bad and cut yourself, which hurts you more than exercise and bad tasting food? I should say just, less stimulating foods, because fruits and vegetables are good, but poor people, especially, are used to processed foods. It takes less effort and money, though, I guess. But it's still just, why. You can run outside for free. Find some deserted place no one will see you running around in. That'll be your pain quota. Run around and feel horrible for awhile, rather than drain the blood your body works so hard in producing to keep you alive.

[PrimaGaga 1025]

I honestly dont think she was trying to lose weight. I think it was just intended to be a middle finger to the skinny folk of tumblr. Like "HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME FEEL THIS WAY" even when they havent done anything intentionally to make her feel that way. A lot of self harm is irrational. Actually i would say almost all of it is. 

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Yeah. That's the backbone of it: irrationality. If you had a rational thought before cutting it'd be pretty clear as to what you should be doing instead. Or even if it isn't, that you've got better stuff to do than cut.