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I know a girl personally, who cuts herself. How is this caused and how to prevent her from doing it.

If you have experience with cutting, you help might be more effective.

There is very little you can do to stop her other than to just be a friend and be there for her if she needs to talk about her problems. Make sure she knows you care that she's hurting herself, and maybe try to convince her to talk to a counselor or someone else who CAN help.

The exact reason varies from person to person. However it's generally because of great emotional pain. Cutting oneself releases endorphins which can dull or even eliminate negative feelings (i know this from experience; after hurting myself i would feel extremely secure and calm). Conversely, some use it to punish themselves. Have you tried asking her about it? Stopping is very much a personal decision. There isn't much you can do other than make yourself available to her. If it gets really bad, you could talk to a school counsellor (that is, if she is of school age) about her, but i wouldn't recommend this without talking to her about it first.

What you should do is be there for your friend. Tell them that you are worried and you want to help them. You coud either try to get your friend into therapy because most people start cutting because of emotional pain. Something could have happened to them when they were younger. And if just talking to your friend or getting them into therapy doesn't work, there are programs that people can get accepted into.

I know a girl that used to cut herself. She started when she was 15 because she had been raped. They never caught the guy because she was too scared to tell anyone. The sad thing is that it was her boyfriend at the time that did it. So anyways, she started to cut herself and she thought a lot about suicide. Her mom found out about it one day and took her to get help. That had seemed to help her, she stopped cutting herself.
Unfortunatly, when she was almost 17, she was raped again, this time by a complete stranger. This one really hurt her because she started to blame herself for getting raped. So she started cutting again. Eventually, she got admited into a program. That wasn't working thought because she had become 'addicted' to cutting. So she was admited into another program where they had their own building where she was staying. She was in there for a few months before she was released. It took so long because as a said before, she had become 'addicted' so even though there were know knives around her she still foud ways.

So yes, my point is, stick with your friend and help them get help right away. They'll thank you later.

If you need more info than just go here: http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/mental_health/cutting.html

i am a ex cuttter, people cut as a defense mechanism to STOP them selves from killign them selfs, i know its weird but my theripist explained it to me, the pain wakes them up and hurting them self releases build up, though this dosent make it any btter, really isent a way any one bu her can stop it

I used to cut. and it was like the only thing i could control. at first i didnt get why my boyfriend did it and we both had alot of stuff going on the emotionally hurt us and he told me it was a way to control something. and it made us both feel like we had control over something. and then we tried to quite but it was like a drug. every time i was upset i'd go find a knife. thenmy friend finally helped me get through it by finding something else i could control, that didnt hurt me. it is never good to get into that and really hard to get out of it. so dont judge people by that help them.

like many of the people here im also a cutter (im not proud of it but i dont see myself stopping anytime soon)
2 me cutting is just another way 2 excape from reality and 2 b able 2 controll something. ive never had much controll of my life because i was raped,abused,abandoned, and have had many problems that cause me 2 go 2 the hospital 2 times a week.
now ive been addicted 2 cutting for about allmsot 8 years now,and im addicted 2 self pain. for me its a turn on and its like a drug in my system , u just want more and more and when u try 2 stop u cant . im addicted 2 the feeling the rush and the calming sensation all at once.
personally i have very few friends and they all have no clue how 2 help me so they stay away from me most of the time. but if u know some1 who cuts never leave them alone try 2 stay with them as much as possable. when 1 of my friends started hanging out with me i was cutting 2 times a day but she helped me bring it down 2 twice a week. i love her a lot for helping me becasue i was getting worse and worse but she helped me through it. now i hated her at first for never leaveing me alone and i allways pushed her away from me but after a while her just being there helped me open up 2 her and explain 2 her y i cut and y im so addicted 2 it.
so if u know some1 who cuts just stay with them as much as possable even when they push u away. one day they will open up 2 u and then u can help them the most even if it seems like they arnt listning 2 u

love 2 u all!!! hope that helps some1 better understand about the subject heart

You can't ask someoen to stop, peope try to say promise me, usually boyfriends or girlfriends, but its an ADDICTION. And if they slip and cut again, they will get made because they broke a promise. I started cutting 7 years ago. And i had a point for 3 years where i stopped but 6 months ago, i did it again and perhaps a little to much, to the point of stiches needing, but i fixed myself up and went on. Its hard to stop ever, its worse than smoking. And there is no one reason for cutting. Just as most people said. Just be there for her, and its good not to talk about cutting, unless she brings it up, no need to.