Self-Mutilation Scars Stressful Students

 Desiree Mendez, staff writer

“I sit here alone in the dark. I run the razor across my wrist. Remembering everything that has hurt me. The blood drips from the cut across my wrist. The pain goes away. When I cut, it helps me direct the pain to somewhere else. I look at my wrist to see all the old cuts, knowing that it helps me to feel better. Well, at least I think that it makes it all better, but it just makes it worse.”

The many teens and adults who have cut themselves, on purpose or know someone who cuts, can relate to these words. Cutting is also known as self-mutilation. All over the world, depressed people are cutting themselves because they feel alone. These are the people who think that no one cares about them, and they have no one to talk to about how they are feeling.

Self-injury or self-mutilation is any intentional injury to one’s own body. It usually either leaves marks or causes tissue damage, according to www.helpguide.com. Mutilation is the act of seriously damaging by cutting of or altering an essential part of the body, according to www.dvassanjuans.org.

According to www.helpguide.com there are different types of self-mutilation, including cutting, burning, picking at skin or reopening wounds, hair pulling, bone-breaking, head-banging and multiple piercings and tattoos.

Many people ask why people want to hurt themselves? Many cutters are usually adolescent females who have a history of physical, emotional or sexual abuse, co-existing problems of substance abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders, according to www.helpguide.com.

There are a growing number of young people who intentionally hurt themselves. Age, gender, sexual orientation or religion doesn’t play a part in who cuts. Also, cutters can be male, female, gay, straight, bisexual, doctors, high school drop outs, rich or poor.

According to the statistics from www.coolnurse.com, most cutters are between the ages of 10-16 years old, had a major change in the teen’s life, or experience intense feelings of fear, hurt, anger, and abandonment.

There are many reasons why people cut. They do it to feel the pain on the outside instead of the inside, to cope with feelings, express anger toward themselves, to feel alive and real, to manage their pain, to break emotional numbness or even as an attempt to manipulate people, according to web sites www.coolnurse.com and www.helpguide.com.

According to one former cutter, “When I used to cut, it was to deal with my family, stress and my boyfriend, it made me feel a lot better than when I didn’t do it.”

Cutters think that hurting themselves will make their pain go a way, but it really just makes everything worse.

There are many ways to tell who might be a cutter. The characteristics of a cutter include feeling helpless, powerless, fearful, lonely, or different. He or she also fears being punished or inadequate. They don’t trust anyone with their feelings, and seeks isolation (this is to cut themselves), and they also have unexplained or frequent injuries. He or she will always wear long sleeves or pants in hot or warm weather. They could be a perfectionist or dissatisfied with their physical appearance.

According to a former cutter, “ I use to always wear pants and long sleeved shirts. This was how I hid it from my friends and family.”

You might think that the person you know would never cut. Some people cut just for the attention and they will keep it a secret from friends and family.

“I used to cut all the time, because I use to think that it was the only thing that I was good at,” according to a former cutter.

Many doctors think that certain illnesses such as borderline and antisocial personality disorders, post-traumatic stress syndrome, eating disorders such as bulimia, substance abuse and schizophrenia, are associated with cutting.

Some cutters think that it helps reduce stress and brings them into reality.  Some say that they cut for the excitement.

Self-injury and suicide are not related. Self-injury is not a suicidal behavior, but it is a way to reduce tension. If left unattended, it could result in a suicide attempt. Self-injury is highly linked to poor self-esteem and over time will evolve into suicidal attempts. It can also become life threatening, according to Dr. Judy Halla, a psychologist from Lubbock.

There are ways that a cutter can stop cutting. Psychotherapy and medications can help. Friends and family can always look for the signs that their loved one is having trouble and try talking to them.

“I never thought about suicide when I started cutting, but after I cut for years and years I started thinking about it. I could never go through with it,” according to a former cutter.

If you or some one you know is a cutter, check out the websites mentioned or call 1-800-DON’T CUT.

No one should have to fell alone, or even depressed to the point that they need to cut.