Cutting and self injury are often cries for eating disorder help. This mental health disorder can cause emotional harm in individuals needing addiction therapy.
Cutting is a form of self injury that many people who need eating disorder help also struggle with. This mental health disorder is a dangerous one and causes emotional harm to individuals needing addiction therapy.
Although thoughts of depression and suicide may be contemplated, at the time of cutting this is usually not the goal.
Self cutting is a behavior that is common in people who are battling anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorders because of the intense pain and emotion that engulf people with these disorders.
Often times, either the eating or the cutting is the main coping tool and the actions are interchanged in different circumstances. Typically, although not always, one manner is the most prominent at a given time.
Self Injury Includes:
punching themselves
scratching or hitting their bodies
biting areas they can reach
picking the scabs of old wounds until they bleed again
cutting into skin, sometimes in particular shapes, with scissors or other sharp objects
Extreme Self Injury Includes:
choking themselves or somehow constricting their own airways
burning their skin with either a lighter or cigarette butt
using found objects like pins, wire, or tools to cut
Why Do People Self Cut?
People who self harm have as many reasons as there are people. What they often have in common is an unappeasable pain that they cannot rationalize. Sometimes this is because of abuse, a past situation, years of neglect or smothering from parents, or simply because the person is overwhelmed with their emotions.
It is common that people who cut have bottled up anger that is never dealt with. This rage stays in their bodies and the only way they know how to deal with it is to feel the pain physically. Voices, whether their own or someone else’s, usually scream internally at them before, during and after they are absorbed into the behavior.
Demographics
Although it is reported to be the most common in women and with young people, the statistics that have been gathered were taken from hospital records. As many individuals do not go to the hospital for treatment, there are possibly many demographics missing from the statistics.
Treatment for Self Injury
It is frequent that a person who cuts themselves is suffering from an underlying mental illness or disorder. During treatment with a professional, these issues must be dealt with in order for the cutting to stop. It is best to find a therapist who specializes in the underlying disorder and who is familiar with self harm.
The copyright of the article Cutting and Self Injury for Eating Disorder Help in Eating Disorders is owned by Lori Henry. Permission to republish Cutting and Self Injury for Eating Disorder Help in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
i am a cutter anmd this is pretty corret article.i started cutting when i
was 15 and i have had treatment but i still want to cut.i have gone for a
month and i feel like im dying without it. this is a very hard thing to
over come. i also have anorexia. i have suffered from this since i was in
the about 10 years old. i am 17 and have attempted suicide 3 times, but i
am working to better myself evreyday. so stay strong and keep fighting.
Apr 28, 2008 11:46 AM
Lori Henry :
Thanks for your brave comment and inspiration, Guest. Indeed, keep
fighting and you will win. Have you ever sought professional help for
either cutting or Anorexia?
May 17, 2008 8:08 PM
Allyson g :
its weird because I have only been cutting for around 3 months and i can't
control the urges the first time I did it was for a really stupid
reason it was because of a guy that I liked and now I have him but I can't stop I guess in a way I did it for attention but
also because I constantly have the feeling of being in a dream and I
can't feel though cutting dosent really help it gives me
something to do about 1 month ago my friend told the school consler
after I cut my sholder then I stopped for a few weeks and now I am
doing it again I need help
Feb 9, 2009 8:20 AM
Guest :
Hi...my 15 year old daughter has been cutting. She has alot of unresolved
issues with her father (we've been separated for 7 years) and he has little
or no contact with them (she has a sister (14) and a brother (10). She has
been seen in ER a year ago and put under suicide watch....prescribed anti
depressants. I think it was a cry for help but it's hard to help someone
when they say that they're fine and they can handle the situation. Just
wondering what as a mother I can do to help my daughter? Are there therapy
groups I can go to for cutting? She has a counsellor at her high school
that she talks to and I'm waiting to hear from her. I want to get the help
my daughter needs but I don't want to force help on her and then close/shut
her down to me completely. Any thoughts and help is greatly appreciated.
A concerned and very frightened mom
Feb 24, 2009 1:53 PM
Guest :
Get your daughter help as soon as possible. The longer it continues, the
more difficult it is to stop.
I've always wondered if cutting
and eating disorders go hand in hand- they do for me, at least. I seem to
relapse in my eating disorder (bulimia) every seven months. When I finally
get a hold on it, I'd use cutting as my alternative to coping with stress
or self-hate.
Jul 21, 2007
Cutting and Self Injury for Eating Disorder Help
