+197 i don't understand why people hurt themselves. replacing pain with pain makes no sense. all you get is more hurt. if you're depressed, don't make it worse. amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

People hurt themselves when they're depressed because the reasons they're depressed are usually out of their control, and the constant internal pain becomes too much, so cutting or otherwise hurting themselves externalizes the pain and makes it under their control, it helps them feel more in control.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

For some people it takes the pain away. When you're that deeply depressed, you don't think about how it hurts or that you're hurting yourself. You can't feel the pain.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

i just wish people would figure out that there is a better way...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Ya fucking emo's. PORN: It's cheaper than dating. /Solution.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Unless you're a person who does hurt yourself, you won't be able to understand.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because it makes it into a different kind of pain, one that is easier to show and explain and understand and fix. But it doesn't make much sense if you haven't been there.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I understand it, but most people who do it have good lives, so I have absolutely no respect for their bitching.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

God what's with these fucking emo answers? Back in my day it was because we were masochists, still are. Fuck you emo kids, you ruin everything. No longer can you cut/burn/etc yourself for the rush without people jumping to wild conclusions.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

actually cutting yourself releases in-toxins in the body to give you the same high as heroin, this can get the person addicted which is why they do it again and again, cause it actually makes them feel good

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's because then you can concentrate on the pain in your wrist, instead of the pain in your life.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If you want to know the technical, biochemical reason, it's because, in people who are depressed, the brain's chemicals fire differently. In a "normal" brain, a wound is perceived as painful. A cutter's brain releases endorphins when they cut. It gives them a rush. It's a rush similar to what you get when you take morphine (morphine was actually named after endorphines). The thing is, natural chemicals in your brain affect you in a way that's somewhat like taking a couple hits of morphine, so cutting becomes an addiction.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

i know i don't understand, but i have plenty of reasons to be depressed, but i still don't cut. to me, it doesn't feel like a solution. it feels like it makes it better at the time, but the next day it's just as bad.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

by saying you have plenty of reasons to be depressed but you aren't makes you sound dumb. You can't choose to have depression or not.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

She didn't say she wasn't depressed, she said she doesn't turn to cutting. And I fully agree, I used to be depressed but I never turned to hurting myself. There are other solutions, long term ones.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

There are definitely other long-term solutions to being depressed, but if you've ever been depressed...truly, truly, manically depressed, it's hard to conceive of a solution that could work. It's not possible to see a future in which you are not depressed. It's not possible to even CONSIDER a future without the weight of oppression pressing down on you. Which is one reason it's so hard to get help for depression. "Solutions" don't seem real. Anyway, cutting for a depressive isn't a solution, it's just an extension of the problem. Even they know that. It's a love/hate relationship, and most cutters know that this is no "solution", in much the same way that drug addicts know that drugs are no "solution" to their problems, even if they feel like it temporarily. Sure, as lizerbethmc said, it seems just as bad the next day, which is one reason cutters keep cutting over and over. They know it's only temporary. But they take what "joy" they can get. Anything

by Anonymous 13 years ago

for some people that is their solution to being depressed. its their body, why should it matter to everyone else.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

there's counseling, getting help, i think that would turn out in the future to make life better, not worse.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Physical pain is easier to deal with than emotional pain. Counseling doesn't always work. Medication doesn't always work. People deal with things the way they deal with things. Leave them to it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Sometimes the blood is a reminder that you're alive too. When I was seriously depressed I cut all the time because it made me feel like less of a numb zombie.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

God is the answer! But telling me or others that we ruin everything or it's not smart isn't gonna make us stop it makes us feel worse so thanks for that! IVe been that low before and sadly it felt right at the time and really it's something hard to control once you have the feeling it's hard to stop. All I know is that I'm glad God is here with out him I'd be lost

by Anonymous 12 years ago