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Self Injury, a common term used by therapists, counselors, friends, almost everyone. But what does the term mean? What exactly is self Injury? Well self injury is quite simple just that. The act of harming your self. But that definition is open to a large amount of interpretation. Simply self injury has been defined as anything that harms the body, but does that include drugs, drinking, and other such things? Not really. Cutting, Hair Pulling, Burning, Scratching, Infecting old wounds,Hitting, and Bone breaking are defined as self injurious behaviors and most self injurers use more than one of the above mentioned.
I think I lost some of you. Let's take a step back before we continue. Self Injury is basically any of mentioned above. The most common of these behaviors is Cutting. Thousands of people use cutting to release what they feel. Another common one is Burning. A lot of burners tend to be smokers too. So why am I telling you these tidbits of information? Mayhap in the hope that you might begin to understand.
Now let's move forward. So why do people hurt themselves? Why do they like it? Are they crazy? Let's start with the last one first and then we'll jump back to your first question. No, people who hurt themselves are not crazy. Self injury is a comping mechanism and it is addictive. Easy to start, but so hard to stop. Why do people hurt themselves? Well simply because it releases something. Anger, Pain, Sadness. It helps you release pent up emotions and feelings. It makes you feel something. It gives control, or at least a sense of control. Some people like the sight of blood. Some people find it calming to watch their blood flow. Some people find that it brings them back to reality. Some do it to fit in. There are so many reasons why people hurt themselves. And not all of them can be explained. Why do they like it? Well chances are they may hate it now. But why did they like it? Because it releases a hormone into the brain which makes you feel good and that hormone is very addictive. It makes them feel something, and it may make them feel better. So they start hurting themselves, and then one day they find they can not stop. Their self injury increases to several times a day, it's all they can thing about, and suddenly they will not go outside without long sleeves and long pants. They start withdrawing from their friends, keeping to themselves, doing a lot of things alone. One day they may get desperate, needing the pain so much that they will use anything to cause harm, whether that be a sewing needle or an ink pen, they will find a way to hurt.
Do these people want to die? Normally no. Self injury is not a suicide attempted. Self injury is a desire to feel pain. Normally people who hurt themselves do not want to die but sometimes their self injury kills them.
The problem with self injury is that many people are not aware of it, or they think it is purely attention seeking. They don't know how to help a self injurer, and most self injurers will not ask for help. They might search the web for help or support, and I do not suggest that. Because the web is always an interesting thing. People will tell you it's good, it's bad, you are going to hell, and maybe you will find a site that offers help without judgment or one, like Teenhelp.org, which offers support. A google search on cutting or self injury in general will bring you everything from pro to anti to support to songs...the best way to get help is to talk to an adult or a friend, not a web search.
Now if that is all of your questions, I'm going to attempt my math homework. What's that? How do I know all this information? Ah, a good final question. I am a self injury. Have been for over a year now. I have written many school papers on self injury, my teachers way of getting me to read the information without forcing me to handle it. Been on many websites, read several books, seen many therapists, given advice and been given advice on self injury...etc. I know self injury better than some of my therapists did. I know many people who do hurt themselves. I know how to beat it, and I am. 35 days free and still going. Because any addiction can be beaten. If you have the will power.
Casey is an 19 year old college student, majoring in History, Minoring in German. She plans to get her Ph.D one day. She writes articles based on personal experience, in the hopes that someone will learn from her mistakes.
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