Cutters - Why do you cut?!

1) It has become an addiction and I get 'high' from it. Not stoner, alcoholic type of high. It's something that can not be explained unless felt for yourself. And I hope you never feel it.
2) Both, boredom, frustration, anger, sadness, loneliness, even good emotions, excitement, happiness, nervousness, anxiety. Pretty much every emotion can trigger it. I know it seems odd but I'm giving you an honest answer here. Cutting is a weird, weird thing and try to keep an open mind.
3) Definitely, you are destroying your body. It's a very shameful thing. I think a lot of cutters have very deep shame in them from childhood.
4) It is a state of clearing your mind. For once nobody is nagging you or anything and you can just let your mind process what has happened. That is all during. Afterwards, it's more of an "oh f**k" and you have more anxiety because of the huge mess you just created and the fact that now you can't wear your cute new t-shirt and you have to be thinking of a new excuse to tell your friends because "your cat scratched your arm" only works so many times.

I hope that helped.
I'm glad you are helping cutters because they really need it.
Also, you should look into skin picking because it is VERY similar only far less talked about.
Another thing you should know is that cutting/picking falls into the OCD spectrum and (at a certain point) IS a mental illness. Just fyi.

Again, hope that helped. Good luck on your project. :)

1. I cut as a coping mechanism.
2. I never cut when I am bored, I only cut after a fight with my parents, etc. or when feeling sad, angry, hurt, depressed, or numb.
3. I sometimes feel guilty. But mostly just relieved.
4. It brings me relief, To me the pain i have inflicted on myself is not as bad as what I'm feeling on the inside, or at least I feel something. After I cut the first thing that goes through my head is a sigh of relief, sometimes guilt, mostly relief. It burns sometimes but, it is never as bad as the pain I'm feeling on the inside.

I feel like for me, there is no other way to cope. No other way out of my problems besides relief in a razor.

Myself, Experience

Why did i cut myself? Because, I hated my life. I felt like i was never understood. I was emotionaly abused and made fun of by my brother, my grandma , and my mom.
It felt painful but I kept doing it because I thought I deserved more pain. I thought I didn't deserve to be happy and I made everyones life miserable.
I did it whenever I felt like doing it . Nothin special . I'd feel a struck.of self hatred in my body by looking in the mirror , I'd just cut myself.

1- i used to cut due to problems that was going on at home
2-used to cut when something bad happened
3- hated maself for doing it still do as got horrible scars on arm now
4- felt like i was in control and liked to see the blood sound

been stopped 4 years now

1. It makes me feel better
2. Yes
3. sometimes
4. It takes my mind off if things....takes the edge off...I feel like I deseved it because bad ppl or defective ppl deserve to be hurt because they're not normal and should be fixed. I feel that the pain from cutting is the pain I deserve also the pain that masks the inner pain.

Cutter

well i have cut once it said F U K on my arm and it didnt hurt it burned i hated my self month after month i had to wear long sleves to hide it from my family i was depressed at the time i still hate my self for doing it all it brought was heart ache and stupidity took over when i did it i havent done it since cuz the scare will always be there =( im noww on prozac to help with depression

1. I can't control anything I do
2. I cut when I want to kill myself
3. No I just put some braclets on and forget about it
4. It doesn't bring relife I just want to kill myself but at the same time I don't so I just cut and whatever happens happens

1. i cut because if i didnt i would probably kill myself
2.i usually cut after something bad happens
3.no
4.its just like releasing pressure/stress it makes u feel better

I'm happy to answer these questions with regards to how I used to self harm, but I have not done so for years. I was between the ages of 13 to about 16 when I self harmed, with several slip ups since then.

1. Because it gave me satisfaction,and because it was a sort of physical symbol of the emotional pain I was feeling. It confirmed for me that I was real, I existed, I was alive.
2. It was more like a ritual, an almost nightly event some times. I got cravings if I didn't do it for a while. It wasn't related to any particular events in my life, although I was more likely to do it if my mood was especially low.
3. I felt deep shame and guilt about doing it, because I was afraid that my family would find out. Hiding it was absolutely the worst thing about it.
4. It made me feel a physical rush, a sort of high for a while. After the high wore off I got hit with a massive wall of guilt and regret because I realized I would just have to keep hiding the scars again.

Hope this is helpful, although I suppose it might not be if you are particularly looking for people currently in their teens.