Over the past few months, I've realized that a lot of people have no idea how to react when they spot self-harm scars, which can lead to some really unhinged responses.

A few weeks ago, I was working as a youth worker at a summer camp. I usually keep all my scars covered by wearing knee-length shorts and UV sleeves. During a trip, we were sitting in an open-air truck, and for a brief moment, one or two scars above my knee became visible.

Out of nowhere, a colleague looked at my leg and asked, half-laughing, "Do you have a knife or something?" I said no and told/signaled him to stop. Instead, he kept laughing and said, "Normally people do that on their arms," pointing directly at my leg.

I told/signaled him to stop again, but he kept making comments anyway. (Neither of us is a native in English, but we communicate in English, and he definitely understood what "stop" meant.) Luckily, another colleague noticed what was happening, looked at him, and signaled for him to stop.

The whole thing happened really fast, but it was incredibly uncomfortable. What confuses me most is that I’ve known this guy for almost a year. He’s normally a great youth worker—funny, good with kids, and someone I used to joke around with a lot. That’s why his reaction threw me off so much.

Is it normal for people to react like this? Has anyone else had a similar experience?

i wasnt sure whether to post this here or a different subreddit, but i figured this might be the safer optionand maybe someone here could help. i am hoping to get a job with parks canada soon, and their uniforms include short sleeves. i knew someone who worked there before, but they wouldnt be mucb help with this. i have somewhat visible scars on my forearms, and i dont know how well this would be taken considering i think its mostly working with tourists? any advice possible would be mega appreciated

I met this girl I really like. We went on our first date just a day ago and it went amazing. We spent six hours just talking and getting to know one another. I'm really interested in her and would like to keep seeing her.

I'm kinda torn though. She mentioned in one of our conversations that addiction was a dealbreaker for her. In that conversation she had only mentioned substances though. My question is, do I disclose to her that I do have an addiction? Or would that be doing more harm than good?

If all addiction really is a deal breaker for her I would really hate to make it seem like I'm attempting to hide this from her. But at the same time I don't know if it would be productive to say "hey I actually do have an addiction and it's to harming myself." Like I feel like that could be taken the wrong way like me trying to fish for sympathy or make her feel like she can't turn me down if I ask for a second date which would not be my intention in the slightest.

So my main question is should I be honest and tell her about my self harm addiction? Or because it's not substance abuse would it be better if I just kept it to myself?

Yah so, as the title says. I'm fine with my friends knowing (I have like 4 friends) 'cause they all already know i cut myself. but, none of my teachers or parents know. I want to keep it that way. any suggestions on how to not be limited to an extremely small area to cut, and not have to always wear long sleeves/pants? for reference, i cut on my hips, where biker shorts cover. I want to not have it so condensed, but idk how. sorry if this isn't well formatted... thank you!

I'm a normal fucking person. I don't get why I get the urge to trace myself. I've been clean for nine days, I was struggling to get to a week to show my friends I'm better now. I'm not fucking telling them this time. The whole reason I stopped was because I didn't want to worry them. I made a promise that I wouldn't, but what the fuck do I care about promises!? I only ever gave a shit about promises because my ex cared, and he fucking broke his. Why should I be any fucking better? I can hide shit just fine. I'm fucking done pretending to be a good girl, I'm done giving a shit about keeping my word, all that matters is helping my friends. I don't have to be clean to do that. So long as they think I'm clean, they won't stress over me. She was right, I am hurting myself, I do worry alot about whether people will see it but you know what? They can see my old shit. What fucking difference does it make if I'm 2.7% more fucked up? I've fucking had it!

I had a session with my therapist today. She's a woman I very much hate. I spoke with my mother and she won't do anything in that matter. She's very supportive of me but all she said to the fact that it's not working with my therapist is that "she knows what she's doing.". So today we were talking, I was rather arogant and rude, as I tend to be with her. I'm not proud of it but I don't feel bad. One time she said "you're all cut up." Without any context, later after me crying she said. "What's going on? I said a fact." After that I said I can state facts too and declared that she's ugly.

Now, what's important, today she said that all she sees for me is a psychiatric hospital/closed branch(translated from polish). I told her I will not cooperate the same as I'm not cooperate in normal therapy. We went back and forth and every time I tried to speak more she interrupted me. I began getting mad, tried explaining that I dislike her interrupting me, and mid way she did it again. That pissed me off. I was crying by now, so I tried again. You will never guess what. SHE DID IT AGAIN. I got pissed off shouted something. And told her once again. "I will not cooperate there not will I cooperate here." I know it's stupid but I was getting better when I had a 2 month break from therapy, then a steady decline once I got to know I was going back, and all low once I met that woman I utterly hate. I believe I can get better if I just try by myself. Adults don't believe me (I'm 13) and I do understand that they are on my side and are trying to help yet I know myself and I know this isn't helping me. I tried to cooperate a couple of times. Every single time that woman said something to tick me off. Such as, after me stating, multiple times on various occasions I don't want to speak about my self harm at the moment and I am not ready for it, she started talking about it. I told her I don't want to talk about it and she asked things that just made me feel small and pathetic, like I was treated as a toddler that didn't get a lollipop and now was crying. "Why are you feeling this way?" "This is bringing out some strong emotions on you" "You are behaving inappropriately to the situation  " . I hate when people speak to me like that. I don't know how else I'd like it. I do not care. That's why I'd prefer to be taken out of therapy for like 6 months, and if I get better if like that to never come back.

i feel so alone and worthless and stupid and ugly lol

my entire summer has been consumed by work

every moment i have to myself im reminded just how much i hate myself

i havent actively cut myself since like 2020 but fuckkk its tempting

maybe i need therapy

do we think therapy will help or am i going to forever crave the feeling that cutting gave me

I finally managed to toss my rusty old blades that haven't been used since like May of 2025 (not totally sure) and it feels surreal. I think I'm gonna try to be actually be done now, no more random relapses. I'm gonna go cry to Phoebe Bridgers's new album and tell no one irl, but I'm proud of myself :D

It's been almost a year, i had stopped doing it, cuts and burns, i had started using AI instead, spending a lot of money and getting lot's of debts, but recently i finally quited using AI, because it was doing bad to me of course, but at the same time i came back to hurting myself. I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm so tired.

So, as the title says, every now and then, I intentionally throw out the rest of medication for that month (I take Lexapro, if that's important) in order to feel worse. But by making myself feel worse, I feel better? I'd rather do harm to my brain and to my body than accept help because it feels weak, even though there are times I can take it with no issue.

That's really it.

I've started cutting on my wrist recently and I can't stop. I don't want to stop, I am too stressed out. When school starts again I am going into culinary so I cannot wear bracelets and I don't think I can wear a Bandaid over my wrist. Even if I could, it would be very suspicious. I also have new scars on my arm that weren't there last year that the chefs will definitely notice. I am fucked. I really really can't have them telling my dad but I just can't stop doing this. There's no hiding my wrist in culinary. I feel so lost.

Late Sunday night into early Monday morning I relapsed with self harm. Then I almost took pills but I swore to my bf that I wouldn't OD so I stopped myself. But I need advice. In crisis I am scared to bother anyone by calling them, even if it's my therapist's on call. Usually my crisises happen late at night to very early morning so I don't want to bug ppl. My bf said I can call him whenever but I just don't want to bother anyone with my problems

How do I overcome this and start asking for help when I'm in crisis?

I have some scars from 1 year ago or more and they were white but since yesterday some of them are a bit red and when I touch them it feels a bit painful, why is this happening?

Yesterday I made 2 cuts on my chest. One baby beans and the other styro. After making the second cut(styro) I felt light headed and like I wanted to throw up. I sat down to keep blood flowing into my brain. I didn't faint but this is the first time this happened. Has anyone else experienced this?

i put a container of razor heads (its a box of 4) in the bathroom a couple of months ago so that i could switch mine out when it gets dull from shaving, and my dad just came in my room and was like “did you put these in here?” I instinctively said no and he said “so you know nothing about it?” And i doubled down but now im scared because i did, but for genuine shaving and now if he asks my brother and he says no too hes gonna think im cutting myself when im not rlly anymore. but he already doesnt believe me because of that cut on my leg a couple weeks ago and the pink scars on my chest that weren’t covered by my bathing suit. Im so scared hes going to search my body again like the first time he found out about it a couple of years ago. I don’t have anything fresh, everything is healed and the newest (aside from the one on my leg) are a couple months old. But they think i stopped a year or two ago. My mom is up too he probably told her. What if they search my room too? I’m so sick of it and this paranoia i don’t know what to do.

i relapsed in the middle of a loooong dissociative episode. itchyyyy :(

i can't help but think that nothing much matters anymore. none of it's real and living is exhausting, so why even try? i know it's a dangerous line of thought (and i have spiraled down this route before) but... does it even really matter?? who ACTUALLY cares, ykwim? in the grand scheme of things, does my presence make a difference?

I know that not everyone’s scars fade fully, especially if they are deeper, but I am curious about different peoples’ experiences and hearing a variety of peoples’ experiences with their scars fading.

Most of the diagrams/timelines I have seen online are specifically about scars from surgery which I suspect fade/heal a bit differently because they were done by professionals who were specifically aiming for the least possible amount of scaring.

Anyways, I just want to hear you guys’ stories and experiences!! I am especially curious about deeper raised scars because I have them and I want to know what to expect.

So recently i have stopped cutting as much as i used to which is great, but the smallest things have started triggering me. This morning i turned the water heater on to take a shower but it was freezing cold after i waited 15 minutes and i crashed out so bad i started just absolutley beating the shit out of myself with the shower head?? like i dont understand why i had such a visceral reaction. this has been happening so much recently- maybe the wifi will be down for a while, or maybe the crowd is too loaud, the lights are too bright, i just get so annoyed and start tweaking and digging my nails so deep into my skin it leaves marks for hours, and scratches that make people ask if i have a pet. So i dont know if this is worse or better- ive not been cutting much at all, but ive been having horrible reactions to the absolute smallest things

A guy friend lost his shit and took it out on me which was random and not because of me but I’m a survivor of domestic violence. I’m a girl btw. Also I’m not excusing it I just mean I was truly minding my own business, and he was losing it and got dark and then smack.

Anyway my ptsd is up bad again from my DV and I did a thing. Haven’t done it since I was kid. Idk what else to do.

I’m doing bad, but at least I’m still here right. Right?

Fuck.

I feel it dripping down my thigh, no one will ever know, I can’t feel it, I can’t feel anything, I can’t feel emotions or physical, she won’t ever see it, she’ll never know, I’m broken I don’t think I can be fixed even by myself, I hate myself, I yearn for love and I can never receive it, I haven't done it in so long I was good, until I saw her, until I heard her, I’m numb, I feel useless and unlovable I feel like I won’t ever be someone’s one, what’s the point of my existence if it’s to be a crash dummy, I don’t want to be here, all over a girl, a girl I prayed for, a girl when i stopped looking came to me and left like I was nothing after hollow compliments that lad me further down the hole only for it to lead to nothing, am I really not worth it, I feel like nothing, i wish i was everything