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Those people aren't insane as I see it, most likely because it can be compulsive sometimes or something similar to that. . . I don't do self-harm as a part of my insanity. . . I do it to feel . . . human. . .

The world is simply judgmental. That is after all why there is racism, looking at classes, skin tones, etc.
People tend to judge other people even when they say they don't.

because "cutters" aren't insane but rather still troubled. They do need to seek help, but not from one of those people who think they are insane.

Yes, but it still has differences. Not everyone cuts themselves.

Generally speaking, people don't cut as an alternative to crying or screaming or taking a walk. They do it because those other things aren't effective in the given situation or they need to stop doing them right away.

For example, I had a serious situation a few weeks ago where I went ballistic. Not only was I crying so loudly that everyone in the hall had to be able to hear me, but I couldn't breathe. My face was tingling. I felt like I was about to pass out. But I couldn't stop.

And so I just tore up my arm.

Cutting is harmful and painful. Cuts are something people want to avoid. So when psychologists hear that a person is inflicting pain on themselves, that suggests that they're feeling another pain far more intensely.

I needed to stop feeling what I was feeling, so I brought in a pain that wasn't as psychologically upsetting and more immediate (to my visual field, to the skin).

Everybody has problems. Everybody needs ways of coping. But certain ways of coping are unhealthy. Punching a hole in the wall of an apartment is vandalism - you're going to have to pay to get it fixed. Punching a hole in someone's face is assault. Regardless of whether this stuff makes you feel better, it still has very negative consequences.

I have never met a person who has cut who hasn't felt extreme shame for it.

To know that you had to rely on self harm in order to stop yourself from doing harm . . . it's messed up. It doesn't make people feel good about themselves.


Psychologists don't intervene to stop the cutting. They want to stop what's causing the cutting - because someone who is engaging in self harm is past the point of "normal" upset. There's something wrong in their cognitive processes that's causing terror in their heads. I wasn't happy that I did what I did, but it would be a lot better if I had never gotten to the point of doing it.

I don't have much personal experience with cutting, but for several years, my two best friends were cutters. Not pleasant. I support TWLOHA. Anyway, here goes.

While it may just be a system of venting, most peoples' venting (screaming, crying, shouting, trashing physical objects, whatever) may be harmful to their environment or emotionally hurt other people, cutting physically hurts yourself. It's not that hard to go too deep, cut too many times, use a bad blade, or not get proper medical attention and seriously harm yourself from cutting. Cutting implies that, instead of you're just having emotional issues, that you'd actually be willing to bleed to death and cause yourself to die. Cutting is a distraction, much like taking drugs to hallucinate or something, but, like drugs, it's really, REALLY harmful. One of my best friends has been a cutter for several years (stopped this year heart heart heart ), and, for the rest of her life, will quite literally be coated in scars. Unlike screaming, or crying, or shouting, or trashing something, cutting leaves lasting physical impact, and can imply mental problems more serious than just bad circumstances.