Self-harm will definitely help in the short term, and is it better than suicide? Absolutely! However, it won't help you in the long term. There are other coping skills that can empower you and actually help you heal and cultivate that self-esteem that you crave. I don't know what's going on in your life, but I can assure you that you are worthy of healing and don't deserve punishment. It might be good to work with a school counselor or therapist. You deserve support. Wishing you peace....

You could get infections from self harming or worse cut in a place you shouldn’t and bleed out. I used to be a cutter and overcame it 11 years nearly 12 years ago. I was traumatized terribly from childhood abuse and two relationships that involved domestic violence. The first and second marriage. I lost a pregnancy too and I mean I had all this terrible emotional pain. It was very hard going through it without cutting. I used to be an addict on some hard drugs and I drank and took pills and I acted out sexually. I would fly into rages and out others in harms way. I was a complete mess but I was hurting and somehow I overcame. Oh and I pushed everyone away from me. I tried hard to do it and just thought everyone would abandon me. I made suicide threats constantly and my life was a nightmare. At 36 though I am still trying to repair my life. The emotional pain though is not near what it was and all that acting out and addiction is no more. It is not easy and I am trying to gain friends but still have the pushing away problem because trusting is very hard. I am a survivor and being a victim of life’s darkness really takes a toll on our psych. We ask why me? Am I not lovable? Why can’t I like myself? Why does everyone seem happy or seem to slide through life so easily? Oh and comparing yourself to others (I had to permanently delete my Facebook for my own mental health) will really drag you down. I don’t know what to tell you to do to stop cutting. My husband had to hide knives and razors and guess what-yep still find a way to get one and hide it. I have a cousin who is a cutter and she had a very tough life and still does. She is 30 and so lost and it hurts to see her that way. I’m not gonna say she chooses it because everyone heals in their own time and don’t ever let anyone tell you to just get over it and let go. You will let go when you are ready. Heck I still haven’t let go and forgive a lot especially people who have hurt me with their words. I know I shouldn’t care what people have said to me but people need to lift each other up not tear down and these were mainly church, yeah church, people who tore me down. I would go to worship and the preacher would say depression is because you aren’t grateful, insomnia is because you are sinning and you know you are doing wrong, anxiety is from unconfessed sin and mental illness is not mental illness it is demon possession. I with the advisement of my doctor left that church. I have yet to find another one. I’m too scared to really. I don’t know how to tell you to stop cutting though. What worked for me might not work for you. If that makes any sense.

The raw honesty that everyone has written in this post is extremely insightful. I think what unites us all is that we want to improve our lives and defeat
our demons, without feeling like we are fighting the battle alone. Whether or not you cut, drink do drugs etc everyone has coping mechanisms, unhealthy or healthy, to keep yourself in survival after going through traumatic experiences. It is hard to break that cycle but if you can try to incorporate one or more coping mechanisms that help you and not hurt you, you will create a new cycle that you can use to show love to yourself instead of hurting yourself. I know because I’ve been down the dark hole, I still end up in it at certain points-not by cutting but in other ways. I know for me
exercise has been the number one coping mechanism for my health among other things. But my point is we all deserve love and we are all worthy of happiness. Thank you G4655 and ivorymuse04 for being so open and honest. My heart goes out to you both.

I met a wonderful friend here many years ago, and she gave me a lot of insight as to why she cut. Her reasons are likely very similar to yours, but since we are all unique, her reasons will not be an exact fit for anybody else.

But she did tell me about some alternatives that she used.

One was to use a rubber band to snap her wrist. There was a bit of a sharp pain associated with it. The pain and the mark from it helped her, but both faded in time and did not have the risk of infection or cutting too deep and hitting an a major artery.

She also drew red lines on her skin with a red pen. It gave her the illusion of cutting.

I think the real road to follow is to get therapy and work through our issues, weather if we cut or not. Don't be afraid to distance ourselves from people who make us feel worthless!

Sorry you are having to deal with this. I guess there are lots of reasons for and against. I won't go into all that but I found a lot of interesting, helpful info on this site: https://bit.ly/2xLVQVZ