Teenage cutting

What do you think the motivation behind kids cutting themselves is? Have you ever known any who were into this?

I've never been able to figure this one out, what is the point? And then they go to great lengths to hide it, well that shows they know it's wrong but to hear some of them talk 'oh it's my business and you don't understand me', you're right, I don't understand the appeal of slicing open your wrist with a blade, do please explain to me why this is alluring.

Cry for attention for the most part.

Most of the time there's some underlying mental illness, such as depression, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and cutting yourself is a way to silence the pain you feel in your head, by infliciting physical pain to cause you to shift your focus onto that, thus ignoring for a while, the mental anguish.

Cutters hide their "work" because they know it's wrong to do that to themselves, but it's a way to re-direct their focus by having to deal with the physical pain, which in their minds, is less-worse than the mental pain.

My daughter has a 15 year old guy-friend who is a cutter, and is bipolar, and ends up in rehab on occasion. He's the son of one of the local doctors, and whenever he ends up in rehab, the only person he'll call is my daughter. It's a lot to have dumped on a 16 year old, but she does very well in talking him out of his moods, calming him down and getting him to see that he's hurting everyone around him when he hurts himself. The boy's father, the doctor, even has my daughter's cell phone on his own speed dial so the family can contact her quickly, and we agreed for them to do that, because she's the only one that can get through to her friend when he goes off the deep end.

Attention getting I would think. I have never known anyone like that.

Hyacinth Girl wrote:Most of the time there's some underlying mental illness, such as depression, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and cutting yourself is a way to silence the pain you feel in your head, by infliciting physical pain to cause you to shift your focus onto that, thus ignoring for a while, the mental anguish.

Cutters hide their "work" because they know it's wrong to do that to themselves, but it's a way to re-direct their focus by having to deal with the physical pain, which in their minds, is less-worse than the mental pain.

That is the reason we were given by a cutter. Who is also bi-polar.