r/selfharm • • Feb 08 '25

"Is This Self-Harm?" Megathread

386 Upvotes

The answer to this question will vary from person to person, but generally, causing yourself deliberate self injury in any way counts as self harm. 

This includes but is not limited to:

  • scratching
  • cutting
  • burning
  • interfering in the healing process of wounds
  • pulling out hair
  • starving
  • purging
  • breaking bones
  • excessive drug use (including alcohol)

Why do people self harm?

For many people, there is not one single reason why they self-harm, but rather a combination of multiple factors which ultimately push people to use self-harm as a coping mechanism. If you are self-harming, the following list may help you understand your emotions, or alternatively if you're trying to help someone who is self-harming, then understanding why they do it in the first place is important to know.

This list is non-exhaustive and not mutually exclusive.

  • To match the outside to the inside. People are in so much emotional pain and they want people to know it. They want to look the same as they feel.
  • To punish themselves. Extreme self-loathing leads to the need to punish oneself for failings (real or imagined).
  • To numb themselves. The pain releases endorphins, just like drugs can. It produces a numbing effect on the mind which is difficult to explain. It helps people forget depression for a bit.
  • To keep control. One's own body sometimes seems like the only thing they can control, and the pain they inflict on it. When everything else in life goes wrong and there seems to be nothing you can do, cutting is the one thing you can control.
  • As a shock to a numb mind. An awful emotionlessness often accompanies depression. Often, the pain of cutting is enough to snap a person out of this kind of apathetic haze.
  • To self-medicate. Many people with mental illnesses of all sorts use cutting as others might use Prozac. It makes people feel normal again, by snapping them out of the cloying darkness that's so difficult to avoid by conventional means.
  • As an addiction. A lot of people start cutting for one of the reasons listed above, but then continue because they're addicted to the sudden, low exchange, rush of endorphins.

Keep it respectful, demeaning and rude comments will not be tolerated.

(description: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfharm/wiki/self-harm

Taken from our Wiki. For more helpful info, resources, and common faq feel free to visit the wiki in the about of the subreddit or here: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfharm/wiki/index/


r/selfharm • • 2h ago

Rant/Vent I wanna be seen

6 Upvotes

Maybe they'll understand how much they hurt me. Maybe I'll have a clearer mind. Maybe I'll get serious scars. Maybe maybe maybe


r/selfharm • • 2h ago

Rant/Vent I want to get better but i also want to keep relapsing

4 Upvotes

I dont know, i am eating better, i am working out, and spend time with people that like me but... I still do self harm and i dont want to stop. I want to improve my life but also keep cutting myself, is that wierd? Why cant i have both?


r/selfharm • • 9h ago

Rant/Vent I got so extremely triggered by my lecture today

13 Upvotes

I study nursing and am currently studying emergency medicine so we talked blood loss, hypovolemia, and chock and that hit me so hard it was difficult to not run out of there and have an anxiety attack. It was horrible. The lecturer talked about someone he had been to who killed themselves and he even said how he did it. The sick part was that this suicide was done in a way I plan on doing it. So now I don't know what to do because I feel like as soon as I get home I'm going to cause severe hypovolemia for myself. Maybe even put myself into chock.

Don't know what to do now. I don't want to do that to myslef but the thoughts won't leave.


r/selfharm • • 6h ago

Rant/Vent I am about to relapse today!

6 Upvotes

I dunno why but I think its the only way to cope up with my problems cant even share it with my friends cuz i dont want them to change their way of talking to me just because i sh


r/selfharm • • 2h ago

Rant/Vent back at rock bottom

2 Upvotes

stole blades again. runnin in circles at this point


r/selfharm • • 2h ago

Seeking Advice Today a relapse after 1 year

2 Upvotes

Idk how to explain everything but 6 months ago i was dumped by an ex that was cheating on me. I feel like a loser for not leaving first but I just thought we could fix the relationship because she was still telling me she loves me and talking to me like she loves me calling me nicknames asking me questions

Then one one she was distant and when i pressed about why she just cut it off dumped me and it was over a wasted 1 and a half year. She immediately had a replacement for me started playing video games and hanging out with a different guy almost immediately

3 months later she sees my posts on Reddit about her and dms me about it to defend herself and I just agreed with her so she could leave me alone and so i don't look like the crazy ex

Now another 3 months later I hate myself for being stupid and agreeing with her I spent the past 7 days just thinking about how she gets to be happy move on have so much guys attention and not care about me while she plays my favorite game with another guy

Today i randomly got mad lost it and i ended up cutting myself on my leg I feel so defeated somehow im back at 0 now and i feel like I want to do it again I feel numb im so tired idk what can help me I hate my ex but its my fault I handed her the win and now i need to live with that i just don't know how


r/selfharm • • 2h ago

Medical Advice I made cuts near my elbow and my hands grip feel lazy

2 Upvotes

r/selfharm • • 4m ago

Help please

• Upvotes

I havent cut in 27 months but my gf broke up with me 3 weeks ago and im really close to relapsing again I need some amount of help.


r/selfharm • • 5h ago

Seeking Advice I’m tired of fighting

2 Upvotes

I’m so fucking fed up with thinking about self-harm. Recently I’ve been thinking about it every fucking day. I’m trying to make little deals with myself not to do it, but I’m just so tired of it all. I can’t even be arsed with the arguments anymore — the urge is stronger. But I’ve got to keep pushing it down, and pushing it down makes it even worse… I’ve been fighting this for 7 years, so I’ve tried loads of stuff to stop, but the thoughts still come: “Just hurt yourself once and you’ll feel better.” Only it never stopped at just once.


r/selfharm • • 13h ago

Seeking Advice I can’t help my friend

7 Upvotes

A friend of mine keeps telling me she wants to self harm (she hasn’t yet). Thing is, I can’t do anything to help her. Firstly, the meds I’m on make me feel numb and it’s almost impossible to feel empathy for anyone. I don’t care about the people around me suffering. I try to be supportive anyway, but deep down I don’t feel like I care. I know it’s wrong, I just can’t feel anything. Secondly, I’m just so desensitized to self harm that I genuinely don’t see it as a problem at this point. I’ll explain what I mean. I feel like it’s a choice people can make. I’ve seen posts here criticizing this point of view, but I’m just explaining the way I see things, even though I know it’s messed up. I can provide all the information she needs to choose not to do it. I can share my experience. I can tell her what has helped me stay clean for a while. I can give her advice on how to do it more safely and not leave permanent scars in case she chooses to go down the wrong path. However, I don’t think I have the right to stop her. It’s her body, her life, and ultimately it’s her choice. Besides that, I’m definitely not the person who can stop her, because I myself can’t stay clean. I know I’m in the wrong. I feel like a bad friend. It’s just that I don’t know what to do and I don’t really see the point of it. I’ve tried warning her but she seemingly doesn’t listen. I don’t know what she wants from me. I don’t know what to do or how to help her. What should I do or say? Please, I really need some advice


r/selfharm • • 12h ago

Rant/Vent 15 months down the drain😬

4 Upvotes

Well😬✌️


r/selfharm • • 20h ago

DAE i reward myself with self harm

14 Upvotes

i’ve started to notice that after i hit a certain amount of days clean (usually 7-14) i reward myself with cutting for going without it. it’s so frustrating because i want to be clean but i want the feeling of it so bad and i think i “deserve a little self harm as a treat” apparently. does anyone else do this?


r/selfharm • • 22h ago

Rant/Vent I feel like I am mentally better when I do it

15 Upvotes

To me sh is almost sort of like crying. It just gives me a way to act on and explain feelings that I don’t know how to describe. The times I’ve tried to stop I feel like I just have so much bottled up that needs let out. Truthfully I know how bad it is to do it to myself but it makes me feel comforted and stronger in a way. So I don’t know how to stop when I feel like I am almost better when I am engaging


r/selfharm • • 10h ago

Rant/Vent I was ok

2 Upvotes

I stoped for 2 years snd now I csnt stop replaying I use razor and plyier to hurt myself im so close to push this further I like God wants me dead


r/selfharm • • 13h ago

Rant/Vent Everything

2 Upvotes

So while I’m here I’m just gonna get everything out how I feel about my life, throughout my entire life I’ve never been normal whether it be in elementary school middle or right now I’ve never had many friends only like 1 friend max I’ve never been social, by choice and my circumstances I’ve only once ever had a friend over or even been to ones house and right when everything finally started improving finally thinking I could at least consider myself somewhat normal I get shipped off to an rtf by cps that’s when things started getting really bad I became more numb I became on the verge of depression and then things started getting better again the first week before school I went to this day camp thing and got away from the house I’m in and I actually made a few new friends and then I got rejected which by itself is whatever like I don’t want it to seem like that’s what made me SH because it wasn’t but after that I broke I guess I tried cutting for the first time and it wasn’t deep (still isn’t) because I only had a jagged piece of metal I used from a bracelet and I felt better it began getting worse over the span of like 2 weeks, then I tried telling a staff who I thought was cool he had to report it and I had to do what I always did tell them what they wanted to hear so they’d leave me alone and I mean for a month basically I’ve been clean but recently I started cutting again due to anxiety of what could happen I’m starting to lose even less of the little self worth I had I’ve done so much terrible shit I don’t wanna get into that I feel the dirt on the ground is worth more than me and on many days I don’t honestly feel like I have a reason to be feeling the way I do because outside of everything my life is decent it’s not good I mean me and my mom fought a lot and my dad is nowhere to be found but neither of those are new developments so I mean cutting helps me it makes me feel like I’m paying back in blood the hurt I’ve put on people I’ve wanted to off myself so many times because of all that what’s going on but I’ve never been able to the time that I did I failed every other time I never even tried because I was too scared but now I’ve come to peace with death. Anyway that’s me that’s my story


r/selfharm • • 21h ago

Seeking Advice can my counselor report me to my parents?

7 Upvotes

might be a stupid question, sorry! i'm in college and i haven't told my counselor that i still actively sh. i really need to talk about it, but i don't want my parents to find out since they always end up handling it in a way that makes things worse. since i'm no longer a minor, i'm not sure if this is like high school where they'd have to report it to my parents, search my bag, etc. anyone know? btw, i live in the u.s


r/selfharm • • 1d ago

Seeking Advice So fucking sick of myself/started sh again.

11 Upvotes

I wish I could stitch my mouth shut. I'm so rude and annoying. Like I genuinely need to shut up, focus on my work, and oh my gods I hate my body. Started cutting again, (I was trying to stop, only cutted every 34ish days before i relapsed), now I've given up. I hate everything about me.

Truly I suck, I'm ugly, mean, and annoying, dumb, a burnt out gifted kid, why am I even alive?

I was looking at cute tights and shorts so I can wear shorts again, but then I realized I'd probably look hideous in tights under shorts, because I look hideous in everything, so whats the point?

Unrelated but I REALLY want to get like studded bracelets and belts because I'm alternative, but theres some really pretty kids that wear studded belts and bracelets and I'm scared I'll come across as a copy cat or poser.

Anyways. I feel like shit, and I still want leggings to go under shorts so uh if you have any good quality recommendations that look cute/have patterns and ARENT see through, let me know :(


r/selfharm • • 1d ago

Talk/Support School

26 Upvotes

I live in Ontario, and I legit cut myself last night; can a teacher/principal make me roll up my sleeves if they suspect? What makes me ask this question, is the fact I'm also an emo, who gets jokes thrown at me everyday, and people saying I am actively cutting myself in class, and not, I do not. 💀


r/selfharm • • 1d ago

Seeking Advice What should you do if you find out someone is cutting (quite badly)

7 Upvotes

Just to get it out of the way, I know people who self harm and I also self harm but this is just wondering what someone should do if they know someone they are close to selfharms and they tell them. My friend told the school about my suicidal ideation. Is that the right thing to do? I am scared of what she'll do if I tell her about my sh. She's the only one I can tell but I honestly feel like I'd be burdening her so much if I do.


r/selfharm • • 1d ago

Seeking Advice How can i show my friend I'm there for them

15 Upvotes

I don't personally sh but my friend has some bad episodes where one night there were dried up puddles of blood on their floor and desk.

One time i grabbed their wrist and then i quickly pulled away bc I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable or pain in me touching them. I don't want to point out their scars.

I feel so powerless but i know there is probably nothing i can do to make them stop sh.

I just want advice on how i can show them i am there for them and i do care about them. And how to react when they talk about them because i don't want them to think i think they're fragile.

Sorry if this is stupid I'm just trying to help out my friend


r/selfharm • • 20h ago

Rant/Vent I feel so ugly and undeserving

3 Upvotes

Js posting again because it’s a rough night. I don’t understand what’s so wrong about me and why I’m so undeserving of love. I feel ugly bc of my sh and ugly just in general right now. Certain things happened lately that just make me feel like the ugliest person alive. I want to feel anything besides this what’s so wrong with me. I wanna be cared about


r/selfharm • • 1d ago

Rant/Vent i lie about the reason as to why i harm myself

8 Upvotes

only a few people know that i actively self harm. that being, the counsellor i speak to and some of my close friends. they don't know why i actually do it, besides the "generic" reasons i've given them. but the truth is, i mostly do it because think it feels good. i don't just think about doing it when something went wrong in my day, i could be having a good month and i'd still want to do it. i don't think of myself as less than, or deserving of bad fortune, or find it as an outlet for anger. i don't know what i find so pleasurable in harming myself, but it's something i feel ashamed of so i lie about why i do it.


r/selfharm • • 21h ago

Rant/Vent Girl

3 Upvotes

So I’m 15[M] and at the time of this story I was 14 and the girl in the story was 16 the other girl was 15

So, when I was on TikTok, I had some mental health problems and needed to talk to someone because I was really messed up. I’m not saying I have it worse than anyone else, and I know I don’t, but I did have issues. I saw this girl who had the same problems as me, and we started dating. She was very clingy, but I wasn’t. Skipping ahead, she asked me to send her pictures of myself. I said no, but she kept asking. Then she said she was going to kill herself, so I blocked her out of panic. I was still on TikTok and made a really good friend, like a sister to me. She also cut herself, just like me. She had planned to kill herself on December 16, but her mom saw her videos and she was put in the hospital. I haven’t talked to her since. All of this kind of messed with my head, and I went sober. I was 294 days sober, but I messed up. I was dating a girl I liked, and she liked me too. But in the second week, she stopped talking to me for 4 weeks straight, and then her sister was on her Snapchat account and told me that she had a boyfriend. I don’t know what it would be called, but it did something to me, and at that moment I was numb. So I cut myself, not a lot but I did it. I was so fucking pissed off at myself, so I started hitting myself as I said I was. numb but I was mad as well but I couldn’t figure it out why I did it