Why does cutting/self inflicting pain help?!

Actually, when you're in pain, your body releases something called endorphins to help cope with the pain. People have told me that endorphins are also released when you run/jog, but I've never gotten any comfort from running.

So, people say that that's the "technical" reason. But I have to say, I just love feeling in control of something in my life, and seeing the blood makes me feel more alive and more real... When everything else seems so numb, it's so comforting to see proof of my own existence in my opinion. And it's the one and only thing that I can control in my life, and that's always a comfort.

So, there are double answers... endorphins, and just the feeling of control and life.

Another reason that I find quite comforting is that I can actually baby myself. I'm being taken care of. I'm so horrible about it, I take forever just to make sure cuts are okay and all of that, and try to give myself the love and secureness that's otherwise missing. It's a bit pitiful, but it comforts me, and makes me feel just a bit more important.Health Question & Answer

---

---

People say that it helps them realize they can feel pain again... for people that complain they are "numb", it helps them "realize they can actually feel things."

It's a load of crap.

It's more likely that there's a rush of adrenaline and cortisol caused by seeing the blood flow, from intentionally inflicting a wound--something our body strongly opposes. Then there's the "rush" of getting away with it, and the feeling that the scars that result are points of pride.

It's really quite disturbing.Health Question & Answer

---

---

There is a toxin that is relesed when someone cuts themselves (usually in an area with very little muscle for example the wrists) that is relesed from the brain. This toxin gives the person a sort of semi high. This makes them feel better.

The toxin is really used to prevent pain during bleeding and allow a rapid rate of healing in the injured area

Hope i helped :PHealth Question & Answer

---

---

I am NO expert here, but I have had friends as adults who confessed they did it as young people...usually teens. I don't know the statistics but I THINK it is mostly a teen thing.
Internal pressure (stress) that cannot be relieved in any other way for the person can seemingly be alieviated TEMPORARILY by them cutting themselves. It is mostly young people I believe, because while young you are mostly at the "mercy" of parental and adult control. If there is something WRONG in those relationships that causes anger, built up grief, or suffering a young person DOES not see themselves as able to control their own lives ENOUGH to voice their concern properly or DO anything about the situation. CUTTING is sort of like having a sprained ankle and then somehow BREAKING your leg! When the second injury occurs, suddenly the pain from the FIRST injury subsides. I am not a doctor and do not know WHY this happens. But I can tell you that I had severe crippling arthritis (still do) and then had a bout with severe Asthma attacks. I had to be taken to the hospital and it took several months for me to breath normally again. One day it SUDDENLY occurred to me that I hadn't had EVEN ONE pain from my arthritis...not one! I told my doctor this and we made a little joke about me having to CHOOSE whether to breath or live in constant pain!
The cutting is a temporary relief from the inner pain. The person can concentrate on a REAL HURTING PAIN from an injury they can really SEE. The internal pain is relieved!!!!!!!!!!!! But only temporarily. This is a terrible thing...young people scaring themselves to relieve their pent up pressure from the life they have to live that has SOME element that is torturing them inside on a daily and moment to moment basis. A lot of the cutting is a sort of short term punishment from the person to themselves for being "not good enough" or "unable to fit in" or "unable to do anything about a bad home situation" and the list may go on and on. If you know someone who does this you should try your best to be their friend and to allow them to understand how wrong this is. These young people MUST learn how to COPE and change the things in life that are causing them this pressure. Cutting can lead to other more dangerous acts and to even more serious mental illness and even criminal activity at some point in their lives. Pressure inside of us can do most anything to us if it is not permanently RELIEVED! A life destroyed is not worth holding our problems deep inside. God views EVERY individual as special and every person is a "one of a kind" with wonderful and great potential for a life that is "beyond belief." The body is "our temple....and God's!" Being healthy and happy must always mean that we allow our feelings to surface and COME out with words and actions that are positive ones, or they sit inside and destroy us.
There are MANY types of manifestation of "depression." I would say that cutting oneself is one of those.
Hope this is a little on the mark and that it helps,
Bunny7Health Question & Answer

---

---

I'm not depressed or emo. I haven't had a tragic life. I don't hate myself. But I cut my arms with a safety pin on a regular basis. I do it when I feel really upset, frustrated, or anxious and can't do anything about it. It's a way of releasing all the negative energy. It doesn't have to be deep (I've never cut deep enough to draw blood) or very painful. I know cutting isn't really healthy, but dwelling on bad feelings and experiences is way worse. As soon as I cut, I don't feel upset anymore.Health Question & Answer

---

---

for me its because it distracts me from the emotional pain i suffer because i fight with my friends a lot and i dont hav that many friends and im one of 5 kids (all girls) so i dont get much attention so i feel scared and lonly the way for me to forget those feelings is to feel the sting and pain of a razor blade going through my skin

i cut from 3rd grade to the middle of 5th then i quit because i got more friends there was very little drama and fighting

i started back up again about 3 days ago because me and my friends are fighting all the time and theres never a moment drama free

is a distaction and an escape mostlyHealth Question & Answer

---

---

i was and am a cutter and i know why i cutHealth Question & Answer

---

---

Well, I think it's like a relief to them. A way to feel pain physically rather than emotionally. I used to persistently scratch myself (my alternative to cutting, i was too much of a chicken) and it just felt...good. I can't even find the words. It's like you gripping onto someones hand so hard that it hurts you, but it's just a release.Health Question & Answer

---

---

Its between cutting and suicide, and no one say different, when you decide to commit suicide at least there is a get out clause,if you are cutting yourself this is on going and see your doctor.Health Question & Answer

---

---

suicidal but not cut myself for 20 years, when i was at school i did to escape going.Health Question & Answer

---

---

Well, it's not really the pain, per se, but more of the feeling I've getting rid of

---

---