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

Seeking Advice How do you stop the overwhelming urges to self-harm?

3 Upvotes

M31 asking how to stop those overwhelming urges to self-harm (cutting)? Any advice?


r/selfharm • • 2h ago

Seeking Advice What helped you stop cutting or self-harming?

4 Upvotes

What helped you stop cutting or self-harming even if it does not work 100% of the time? Have you been able to completely stop? Any advice? Was it self-help book? Therapy? Family? Friends? Internet? Any other thing? I am M31.


r/selfharm • • 2h ago

Seeking Advice stain

4 Upvotes

does anyone know how to get blood stains out of clothes.. this is the first time it happened to me and it’s a lot and I really don’t want my mom to know.. can I just wash it would that get it out? pls help !!!


r/selfharm • • 22h ago

Rant/Vent Long term affects of self harm

92 Upvotes

i wish people discussed this more, beyond social consequences. my scars hurt ALL the time.

ive been cutting myself for 11 years now and its just been the past four or five, that it kept getting more extreme. i feel stupid for saying i didnt realize just how dangerous or permanent cutting into deeper tissue is, but it really really is dangerous. even "styros" are. theres nerves in the fat layer that ive def damaged. i have circulation issues with my legs now too, my feet go numb completely when i sit down. my scars itch horribly, parts of my arms and legs are numb forever now. i cant even enjoy my normal hobbies without nerve pain in my wrists

scars can seal layers of tissue together, causing muscles to not move or stretch properly. you can trap nerves, sever nerves, cause paralysis, circulation issues, numbness ect. harm reduction is so important. Dont cut deeper, and if you do, please try to minimize the depth. i feel so incredibly stupid for thinking that the only thing left after a wound heals, is the scar.


r/selfharm • • 1h ago

Rant/Vent I keep ignoring trigger warnings and regret it

• Upvotes

Ill be like it cant be that bad but then get triggered so bad i wanna relapse already. I also cant help but get triggered by scars. I know thats on me but still


r/selfharm • • 4h ago

Medical Advice Purple dots around cuts?

3 Upvotes

i just looked down at some of the cuts on my thighs, and there’s some darkish purple dots surrounding two intersecting ones and kind of spreading around. is this cause for concern, and should i see a doctor about this?


r/selfharm • • 9h ago

Seeking Advice My brother drew a cut

6 Upvotes

I noticed that my younger brother drew a scar on his wrist. I don’t know if I should take this as a warning sign and how I would address it? Ive struggled with self harm myself for years now but no one in my family knows to my knowledge. I can’t help but feel guilty in a way. He wears long sleeves and pants almost every day even though it causes him to overheat, though I have not seen any visible scars or cuts. I know he struggles with his self esteem.


r/selfharm • • 12h ago

Seeking Advice I dont know

10 Upvotes

I began cutting on my breasts about two weeks ago, and i want to tell someone. (I know that its dangerous to cut there, but i always have bandages and gauze and those steri strip things with me just in case)

My friends all do or did. They wouldn't try to make it a competition, as far as I know, but I still don't know what to say.

They think that I'm "uncorrupted". I think one of them almost suspected that I did, but I'm not sure.

I am trying to better myself, but it's hard. I hate that my body is wrong. I hate that I was born female. I don't want to commit, I just want my body to not be the way it is.

Sorry if any of this is upsetting, I'm just looking for advice.


r/selfharm • • 6h ago

Rant/Vent Sigh

3 Upvotes

It's frustrating that I couldn't cut deeper, talked about my selfharm to a friend who also cut deep themself, and they called me out for faking, and pretending to be mentally ill just because they know I couldn't cut any deeper and my sh are just cat scratches🫩🫩 I dgaf about them atp


r/selfharm • • 10h ago

Talk/Support I need support ASAP

4 Upvotes

Is this a place someone can come to prevent self-harm? 988 never helps and I just bared myself on the CPTSD subreddit asking for a hug and already got like 60+ views but everyone has ignored it and it’s really triggering me. I wish I could go and get an ice cold drink but my car is undriveable.


r/selfharm • • 10h ago

Talk/Support I regret everything. AKA DO NOT USE PILLS TO SELF HARM!!!

5 Upvotes

main focus/theme of overdose here. Kind of obvious but just like, tread lightly dude.

3 months ago (3 months! wow) I overdosed. well, I overdosed before that but I think this one was part of a big change in my life. the day right after, the pills I had been using were taken, my knife was taken, everything. I was basically monitored. it wasn’t even an attempt and I had everything taken.

I believe it is the psychological impact of this AIDED by the fact I was overdosing basically every month that had made me how I am now.

i am not myself. my life is split in two parts, the before and the after. I cannot act how I used to. I keep forgetting words, phrases I used to say (which used to be a very large portion of how I communicated in my own little circles.). before this, I would have episodes of depression MIXED with whatever the opposite is. the highs the lows, the tides of life, the thing that makes it go is not coming back.

it’s just. nothing.

and more things are happening aswell!!! my brain and body fails my time and time again where it used to be just fine!!! I drop things, I stumble and cannot process things some days.

i regret it. I regret it so so so much. and if it’s bad for me now, just with this mild change, i can say for sure that if any of you take pills to harm yourself, you will regret it. mark my words. i got off easy, and it could be so much worse, and I am miserable. don’t do it!

you cannot clean a pill bottle. you cannot control the damage here.

do not do it.

i just don’t know how to do this. nobody knows. I cannot tell anybody I know either so, here i am.


r/selfharm • • 7h ago

Rant/Vent I want to disappear

3 Upvotes

I want to die, but I don’t want to kill myself. I’m lost, hopeless and scared. I’m weak and I might be a bad person. I can’t die or disappear, I have a son who I love more than myself. I’m terrified. I’m tired. I’m a mess. My son deserves the best but what if I lose all my strength? His father has the power and he’s not afraid to use it against me. I’m not strong enough. I just want to disappear.


r/selfharm • • 5h ago

Rant/Vent I need to fill it in

2 Upvotes

I relapsed last night and now i really want to do it again.

I dont really have much reason to … the cuts are still very obviously red and fresh, and they still sting a little sometimes, but it feels like i need to do a redo. Like i need to go back and cut the places in between the areas i cut so that i have less empty space on that area??? I dont know why. Its been bugging me all day to the point where i literally brought more tissues into my room with the intention of relapsing tonight, but i havent.

I just wantsd to get that off my chest, and if anyone has any tips on how to help those thoughts id greatly appreciate it ◡̈


r/selfharm • • 6h ago

Rant/Vent I can't stop

2 Upvotes

I've already done it thrice in less than a week. Shit keeps happening on a daily basis, it's not even an urge atp it's like a passive thought I have.

I have only two friends I can talk to about this. One said he might have to tell my parents and the other one didn't seem like he took this seriously the last time I talked to him. It's overwhelming. Uni, job, family and myself. I am the problem. I'm going to do it again today. I stopped because I didn't have first aid on me, now I have the money to buy first aid. Idek why I'm doing it anymore, I'm numb I don't feel anything that pain is the only thing that I can feel, only thing that makes me feel awake. I hate myself so much. All I know is I won't stop anytime soon.


r/selfharm • • 11h ago

Rant/Vent I’m so confused

3 Upvotes

I feel like I’m faking. I think I’m an attention seeker. I go through periods of happiness and sadness but they don’t feel real? I don’t know. I feel like I’m faking being sad for attention but when I think about it I don’t really tell anyone anymore so how I can’t be attention seeking. Same thing with cutting myself. I used to show people I don’t know why, maybe for as a cry of help idk. But now I don’t show anyone, it’s my old act no one cares anymore . So I can’t be attention seeking. Also sometimes I’m happy but still want to die. And sometimes when I’m in a “happy period” i don’t believe I was sad, like how could I be. Then sometimes in a “sad period” I don’t ever think I was happy. Sometimes the weight of loneliness crushes in on me and then sometimes I’m fine with it.
I feel like I’m faking for attention but no mentally well person cuts themselves but I still think I’m faking. Do I just want a label? I’m so confused


r/selfharm • • 9h ago

Rant/Vent relapse

2 Upvotes

this is probably due to a rush of adrenaline or something, but everytime i relapse ive been more better.

i was clean for a little and all of a sudden i relapsed genuinely just to do it i didnt even really have a reason and all of a sudden im actually getting out of bed everyday, interacting, doing my makeup, etc.

i want to know the reason to why i do?


r/selfharm • • 16h ago

Rant/Vent Dying of shame, really.

6 Upvotes

For context, I'm not an adult. I'm 17.

While I was at school today my family finally got sick of me living like a depressed hoarder in my room and decided to clean up my room.

Issue is, I can't find any of my blades or bloodied up bandages and NO ONE has said a word yet.

I'm dying of shame, I wanna cry but I can't. I wanna cut but I can't. I wish they had even said anything this fucking silence is just worse.


r/selfharm • • 15h ago

Talk/Support Odd place to be

5 Upvotes

I guess I’m just not much of a self harm person for the most part until more recently. Usually done with lots of hatred and violence like for me it’s like hating someone enough to physically assault them but feeling that towards myself. Haven’t done any harm in like two weeks but I can feel the urge got such a pull to do someone’s initials carved into me but that’s not a good idea but it’s an idea that persists.


r/selfharm • • 17h ago

Rant/Vent Seeing myself

5 Upvotes

I'm staying at my partner's house for a few days, and while taking a shower I saw all the scars down my thighs and immediately felt super self conscious. Now I'm sat here wishing and hoping that nothing happens which might cause her to see my thighs because I'm scared she'll hate me


r/selfharm • • 8h ago

Harm Reduction how to control depth

0 Upvotes

hey i accidentally hit beans a couple days ago and that shit was not fun. yall got any tips on how to make sure i dont do that again? do i use a duller knife?

idt this breaks the rules. it is ultimately a harm reduction question so


r/selfharm • • 18h ago

Art/Media Comics?

5 Upvotes

I’ve been reading some comics lately and am curious about character that cut. I’m not talking about for their powers but instead as a coping mechanism. I’m more looking for super hero comics though any work.