Why do people brag about self harm?
I don't know, but you've got to take a second to wonder - if people are openly admitting & flaunting that they're hurting themselves, that they might not be 100% mentally stable. I surely understand where you're coming from. I'm a recovered self-injurer, too. I haven't shown anybody that wasn't a professional in the health field. It's frustrating to people that have actually genuinely suffered, to have to watch these people flaunt something that was an extremely difficult, and secret part of their [our] lives. It's a private part of mental illness, and not something that should be flaunted at all. I can offer up a possible reason why they might be ''showing it off'', though. Remember, self-harm is a difficult thing to have to deal with, especially on your own. It's something that people work incredibly hard to keep secret, and trying to hide it, alone, is extremely stressful & often times you can feel completely alone. The people that appear to be ''showing it off'', might be desperately seeking for somebody else to share their problems with. At one time, I felt so alone & all I wanted to do was talk to someone, and show someone. I was sick at looking at my scars and dealing with the prospect of them, I just wanted to show someone and let them know - maybe help would have been offered. I never did, however, I'm suggesting that this is what people are doing. They need help, regardless. At the end of the day, I agree with you. It's not something to be bragged about. It's serious - nothing to be shown off, certainly nothing to be proud of. It's not something to be ashamed of, but that's no reason to show it all of to the world. If you're recovered, sure, wear your scars with pride, because you've recovered! If they're cuts, and you're still doing it, don't show people. For some people it can be damaging, or incredibly disturbing to see what they've done to themselves. I despise sympathy-seekers & people that treat self-harm as something that isn't to be taken seriously.
Do people who self harm suffer from some type of mental disorder?
In my experience, not always, but usually yes.Logically, there’s nothing stopping someone from injuring themselves without a mental disorder, but I personally find that a lot of people I know who do self-harm either have a mental disorder or another issue. If you want to self-harm, there has to be something you want from it right? Usually this is: seeing your own blood; feeling something, or punishing yourself. Something has to trigger that behaviour, whether it is low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, etc. Self-harm is actually a listed symptom of Borderline Personality Disorder, but not all people who self-harm have BPD, and not all people with BPD self-harm.It could also be a one-off incident. You could be going through a particularly stressful time in your life, a divorce, traumatic incident, or similar, and you can’t cope with the strong emotions. If you don’t have any healthy coping mechanisms, you may turn to self-harm once or twice. Once the strong emotions have stopped, you don’t need to self-harm again, so you don’t.In my (unqualified!) opinion self-harming, whether it is once or regularly, is a sign that the person does not have enough healthy coping mechanisms (examples of these include exercise and listening to music) to live without injuring themselves, and it is something that should generally be addressed,
Why do people commit self harm?
Yeah, depression and all that but I seriously don't see how cutting oneself is solving any problems or making anyone feel better. Sure, I've been in plenty of positions in my life where suicide seems like a viable option, but at least suicide is a way out, what's self harm going to do?
Why do some people self harm on their hands?
Self harm is a coping mechanism that some people use in order to distract from the emotional or mental pain they may be experiencing. It is very addictive and somebody who self harms once out of anger or despair is likely to do it again.Everyone's reasons are different. Sometimes it's to punish yourself, sometimes it's to release pent up emotion. There is often a rush of adrenaline afterwards which can motivate people to self harm again. It's not really a choice in that sense - people become addicted to hurting themselves to cope with trauma.Most people who self harm suffer from mental health issues like depression or PTSD. This means sometimes they do things that seem unreasonable to others who are not suffering from these issues. I mention this not to say that they are "crazy" but rather to highlight the desperation that many self harmers feel. This often leads to questionable actions.- a (recovering) self harmer and sufferer of depression
Is self-harm a mental illness?
Now I'm not saying it is. I was reading this article: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/information/get-info/self-injury And a lot of friends that I have always say, "Well, if you self harm, it's not a normal way to suppress your emotions." Do most victims of self harm feel that seeking help won't do anything? And so many, not saying all, would say 'I'm not important, I don't deserve to be in this world, no one loves me, no one cares about what I'm going through,' stuff like that. And that isn't true at all. There's plenty of people that care. There's hotlines and even when you feel family can't help, there's always people in the community. There's online help. I had a lot of friends who self harmed who no longer do it, and they said they absolutely hated their therapists and didn't feel like they should go out and get help. I guess they only feel that they can only feel better when there's someone that can relate to them. Then again, the discouraging thoughts such as the 'No one cares about me' ones - would that be considered a disorder or what? The reason I ask this is because people with other self-harm disorders such as patients with anorexia keep telling themselves that they're overweight, and it's all they see when they look in the mirror, and it has been said that anorexia is indeed a mental disorder. Similar to people who say that no one cares about them when there's in fact many sources of help and care to offer. Right or no? Whatever it is. If it's compulsive (If it's an action that must be repeated over and over to bring ease to you), it should be treated, right? Because it's a mental compulsion. You have to do it, you have to do it, you have to do it. I don't intend to offend any victims of self harm. I'm not criticizing you, I'm not trying to make you feel bad, and I respect each of you. I just need to know this from someone else's standpoint.
How do people who self harm start with their activity?
Often times it starts out superficially, in some cases as the infamous 'cry for help’ or a method of coping with new, traumatic emotions, and gradually escalates into wounds that require intervention from medical professionals. Non-dangerous tools like butter knives, paperclips, pencils, or other everyday objects may be used to create scratches on the skin. Some people prefer to use a lighter or heated tool to burn themselves. Hair pulling, skin picking, pinching, or puncturing may also be forms of self harm. Conventionally, self harm is seen as 'cutting', however. The wounds might appear on the wrists or arms, but in many instances it's other, less conspicuous places, like the thighs, ankles, underarms, sides, etc.As time goes on, if there is no resolving intervention and no healthier mechanisms are found to cope, the self harm habit may escalate both in frequency and severity; someone suffering from self harm impulses may choose to begin using scalpels and razor blades in lieu of lighter tools, and begin to go deeper with the wounds they create. In some cases it can become a process addiction, similar to an addiction like gambling, where the addictive substance in question is a hormone reaction produced by the brain in response to a particular activity, as opposed to the body being addicted to a foreign substance.
Why does self harm feel so good to some people and why is that considered as a mental condition?
My guess is that our body cannot comprehend mental pain (despair, bereavement, etc), and so we feel the need to ‘translate’ this into something that the body can understand—physical pain. It is clear, concrete, and to the point. It can be an outlet, and once we get that out of our system, we feel better.It goes without saying, though, that I’m still against self-harming.As for why people think it’s a mental illness…well, I guess it is just a universally accepted fact that people shouldn’t do anything that puts their life in jeopardy. Anything that’s different, the society sees as wrong and sick.