My friend is a cutter and I want to help her stop. If any of y'all are cutters can you explain to me why you cut. And if you know a cutter can you tell me how you helped them stop if you did.
thanx,
briezyD

Shade, yeah I know what you mean.

Triss, yeah, messing up isn't fun. I almost did it once. Finally my brain turned on and I realized. Hey, I'm losing blood. Note, this was a long time ago.

I'm a cutter (and a burner).

I have been since eight grade, now in eleventh.

I cut because it takes away my pain very fast.

People cut for different reasons. You should talk to your friend and try to get her help.

I friend found out I was going to try to commit suicide by taking a whole bottle of pills.

She told the guidance counselor.

You can only imagine how pissed I was at her for telling someone. But I got help, and I was grateful.

(allthough I don't go to the phsych's anymore)

i've recovered 7 months from cutting....its just a way of life people get into. No matter what there not crazy they just need help with their emotions. It becomes very addicted thats how it was with me though. Even if you think the person doesn't need to cut they think they do.They could be stressed, so just offer to talk with the person. Never gudge anyone who cuts. Cutting can relate to drugs. Helping someone who is a cutter can be really hard. They might not want help even they really need help. Teen years can suck .

I agree with Clpo and you can get pissy at me if you want. but the truth is cutting doesn't solve anything, just makes you dependant on something and doesn't cure the underlying problem.

Yes life can suck, it can be shit. But cutting is just temporty releif and accomplishes nothing lasting except scars (or death if you fuck up). Been there and done it, and I know why people do it and I know its hard to stop but I suggest trying to get help if you do it and to not EVER do it if you're thinking about it.

Well, I'm done for now. I always feel like putting in my two (or more) cents just in case someone drops by to whine or something like that. You never know.

I am proven wrong, once again. Now will you keep posting or is that it?

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because I can't imagine anyone cutting themselves simply because they were curious.

You'd...be surprised.

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Seriously, what did cutting ever do for anyone?

It makes your life miserable.

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What degree on damage to yourself would be considered cutting? As in scratching/ minor cuts opposed to deep cuts with bleeding.

First off, I don't think your friend ever cut because I can't imagine anyone cutting themselves simply because they were curious. But I've heard that scratching can produce the same effects as cutting. I also can't imagine that ever feeling good, but that's just me.

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they start because they cant handle all of the pain in their lives and feel that they have no control.

This is exactly why I'm telling you to suck it up. If you can't handle life as a teenager, you're a pansy and will never survive in the real world unless you get some balls and deal with your problems in ways that don't involve self-mutilation and sleeping pills.

Seriously, what did cutting ever do for anyone? Sure it lessens your pain for a little while. But then the pain comes back. So you cut again. And again. And again. Eventually, you'll get used to it. Cutting simply won't take away the pain. Why? Because the pain has never really gone away. Cutting doesn't solve the problem; it pushes it away until a time where it becomes unavoidable. You need to deal with your problems, not ignore them.

It's just like drinking. If you think life is crappy, you might go out and get drunk. But once you sober up again, you realize life still sucks and downing three bottles of Budweiser didn't help at all. Yes, life does suck for some people. I won't deny that. But cutting doesn't do a damned thing. It's a temporary fix at best. But there are other and better options. God can help. Friends can help. There is always someone who can and will help. Razor blades, on the other hand, don't. Case closed, end of story, don't sue me if someone dies as a result of this post.

Again, I feel I should apologize for being so harsh, but that would kind of defeat the whole point of my post, so I won't. This is how I feel about this matter, so I don't see why I should apologize in any case.

Actually a reply to a newmember's posts would be nice. thank you.

Triss, don't bother replying. If they log on and only post once, they probably won't be back unless you offend them or something.

My friend used to "cut" because she saw other people doing it & was curious. When she felt upset, she just went ahead and did it. Since it's been months since then, and she doesn't feel addicted to it, I'm doubting that she ever cut in the first place. What degree on damage to yourself would be considered cutting? As in scratching/ minor cuts opposed to deep cuts with bleeding.

I understand where you're coming from faerie, me being a cutter aswell and having a lot of things happen to me. But I had nobody to really help me to get out of it and I had to force myself to get over it. (It took moving out of my parents house) And its not always easy I still mess up. What I meant when I said that was that you need to be able move on from your past, you can't let it control you.

I'm a recovering cutter. it's been about half a year since i last intentionally inflicted wounds upon myself. i really don't agree with the ppl who say "just suck it up" or "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" when theyre telling you to stop cutting. most ppl dont start cutting just because theres nothing better on tv, they start because they cant handle all of the pain in their lives and feel that they have no control. thats y i did it. i was abused for a very long time when i was a child, then i had to watch the rest of the ppl in my home be abused by this same person. i never had it easy in life and ppl didnt know how to deal with me. i was so depressed all the time i couldn't even get out of bed most days. i only had one friend, and i thank God he was there for me. through all of the mental hospitals i was in, through the "special school" for kids with mental problems they sent me to, and all of that other stuff, he stuck by me. i can remember him telling me all the time, if u need someone, just call me, even if its 3 AM. he even came and held my hand after a bad night of cutting. my mom had just gotten done telling me about how stupid and worthless i was and i couldnt deal. i had numbed myself so much through the fight with her that i couldnt even feel anything physically. i started frantically cutting myself just to know that i wasnt dead. he showed up and found me crying and bloody in my room. he took away my sharp object, told me everything was gonna be alright, and held my hand for the longest time that night. it really helped just knowing that i had someone who cared that much about me. so as my advice to you, i say just tell your friend how much they mean to you and that youll support whatever positive decisions they feel will help them kick this (because trust me, its not easy.... at all) and that they can always come to you and tell you whats going on in their life and that you'll do the best you can to help them make sense of this crazy little taco world we live in.

I have to agree with Clpo there.

I mean personally I've seen ALOT of shit in the short 18 years that I've lived and I had a hard time dealing with it. The truth is, what happens to you shouldn't dictate how you live the rest of your life. It rough and its hard to get over some stuff, but if can its worth it.

Have I totally recovered from my past? no... But I'm not going to let my past control me anymore.

Does anyone ever wonder why there are so many teens who have decided life is worthless or meaningless before they've yet to really experience it?

I mean, seriously. If a 30 or 50 year old commits suicide, it's because something really crappy happened (like the stock market crashed or the FBI found out about his child porn and money laundering operation by looking through his mistress's dirty emails on MySpace). If you kill yourself at 14 or 16, it's because you didn't have the balls to see what else life had in store for you. At 14, you have no clue at how much your life is worth. At least wait until you're fired a couple of times and got evicted from your apartment for being too poor before deciding life sucks.

Yeah, I'm harsh. Suck it up. I don't like quitters. Unless they're quitting smoking. Then they're cool.

I am a former cutter. I didn't care about anything, my life was meaningless.

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When I found people I could talk to that's when I started to open up more. I haven't cut myself in two years.

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His father was abusive and his parents got a divorce when he was seven. He hadn't seen his dad since. His mom had a trust issue with him and even kicked him out of the house. He lived with his cousin for two months and me for a week. Finally, his mother took him back in. At that point he became very suicidal. He would talk about killing himself and he would cut himself with anything he found that was sharp. I told my parents what was happening. My mom would stay up on the phone with his mom for hours telling her that she needs to help him and trust him because he really wasn't doing anything wrong. My parents and I found him a counciler and helped him get back on his feet. Now he's almost back to himself again, he has his days but he knows how to get through them now.

i have cut my wrists only on ocassions where i dont feel like i can turn to anyone... i just feel like a am going to explode and even when i got to my best friend, she doesnt understand...its a feeling of hopelessness and self-hatetred. it's like you dont know who to turn to so you go to a razor blade... please, do me a favor and try to help her stop, try to understand because i have even had thoughts of suciside and i know you dont want it to caome down to that.
-kathryn

Get a job. When you realize you can't wear long sleeves all the time and people keep asking Gods, what happened to your arm?!, you'll stop.

I don't cut, but I'm a non-drugged person with OCD. I don't want to use drugs for it. So, some of the things I do to stop compulsions might work for stopping cutting. But that's just maybe.

So, I have actually stopped this, but I used to have to wear a rubber band around my wrist, and I'd just snap it whenever I wanted to do something compulsive. And then just distract yourself, and tell yourself that it's out of your hands/it doesn't matter. Actually once I had a friend yell at me. (I was at school, and I realized that I'd left my sock drawer open at home, and I couldn't fix it. So I told her to tell me it doesn't matter and just yell at me).

My friends just let me call them when I want to do something compulsive (If I do it, I'll get stuck in a loop until it's perfect, and it could take some time).