I don't get this cutting thing...?!

I don't get this cutting thing...?

I mean, what do people do it for and why? And is it always emo people? Not trying to be prying, but I don't understand. Please, no rude answers. Thank you.

You know how if you pinch your finger and then stub your toe your finger stops hurting because you're just thinking about the more recent injury? Cutting is a lot like that for many people. It provides temporary relief from emotional pain by replacing it with physical pain.

For other people, it's a way to feel anything at all, even if it's just physical pain. Sometimes people deal with overwhelming emotions, especially experienced over a long time, by essentially blocking them out entirely, so they end up feeling numb. Cutting can provide a way to feel something, often to prove to themselves they're still alive.

It can also be a way to feel in control. People might feel like they have no control over their life, or many important aspects of their life, but cutting gives them control over physical pain and over their body.

Others use it as a way to prevent themselves from dissociating. One way that people can deal with powerful emotions, particularly ones that they've been taught they're not allowed to feel (anger, for instance), is to sort of space out. People describe it as being like they're watching from outside their body, they have no control over their actions, and they don't know what they're doing. Inflicting physical injury can be a way for people to bring themselves back to reality when they feel themselves starting to dissociate. I recently read a really good book about a girl who cuts for this reason - if you're interested, it's called The Luckiest Girl in the World, by Steven Levenkron.

Some portion of people cut for attention. These people are definitely the minority, and they may have a really good reason to want attention, but, for obvious reasons, they tend to draw more attention to their cutting than other cutters do, so this is what a lot of people associate with cutting. It's also the easiest to understand for someone who doesn't do it, which is probably another reason that it's what many people think of as the main reason people cut themselves. It's definitely not the case that no one cuts for attention - I know someone who did - but it's a very small portion of cutters that fall into this catagory.

For some people it's a sort of screwed up fashion statement, or something they feel that they're somehow supposed to do. This overlaps a lot with the attention thing, but it's a little different. There are some portion of people, mainly young teens, who think that emo people cut themselves, and people who feel depressed are emo, so if they feel depressed then they're supposed to cut themselves. It can also be sort of physical proof for people that something is wrong or that what they're feeling is real (not necessarily proof for others - it can be to prove it to themselves), even without the emo association but still people who have heard about people cutting themselves and have specific associations of why they do it or who does it. Like with the attention thing, these people are a minority of cutters, but they do exist.

It can also be a way for people to punish themselves for something they feel guilty about (often something that wasn't actually their fault). I think that one probably makes sense without much more explanation.

For some people it can be a way to intentionally disfigure themselves, or make themselves ugly. That's more common with eating disorders (eating either way too little or way too much), but it can sometimes be a reason for cutting as well. This is most common with surivivors of sexual abuse or rape, and the idea is that they can protect themselves from future abuse by making themselves less attractive to potential abusers. I don't think that's a very common reason to cut, but it is one reason people do it.

And no, not all cutters are emo. Most aren't, in fact.