I also started scratching when I lived in a group home as a child. No matter what your doing its self-destructive and for me it was addictive. Just like a drug, it can be an answer to your stresses in life and be a bad alternative to dealing with your problems. I would try to talk to a therapist and talk to them about your self-harming behaviors. It is never good to hurt yourself. I know some people that use a rubber band around their wrist and snap it every time they feel like self harming. It might work for you until you develop coping skills to deal with your feelings. Hang in there and try using the journal feature on here and just write until you can't write anymore. You'll be surprised what feelings actually come out!

I was about 13 or 14 when I started. I was really sick and felt completely out of control. I started digging my nails into my hands and pulling at my hair. I just remember thinking how weird it was that those things made me feel better. I stopped for a couple years after that. When I was 17 I started scratching with sewing pins, and that eventually let to cutting with Exacto blades and razors that I stole from my dads workshop. I even progressed to burning myself with match heads and hot tops of lighters. (I discovered burning one day when i was in my dorm room bored and playing with a lighter). I got so bad at one point that a good 3 inches by 5 inches of my forearm were solid cuts. I also have alot of visible scars on the inside of my wrist from burning.

My point is, just a simple accident or revelation can lead to self harm. I was doing it before I even knew what it was, I had never heard of anyone doing it before. My advice to you is to kick it now and just consider this a bad patch of your life. It is soo much easier to quit if you haven't really gone any deeper. The longer yourself harm the more damage you need to do for it to still work.

I remember I was in my art class and I started carving my arm up with a pencil :/ I don't really know why I did it, but I did and now every time the urge to cut hits me, its so hard to resist and I cut deep enough for stitches :p
It you start feeling like you NEED to hurt yourself, DON'T DO IT!! It is soo hard to stop :p

I did it on purpose and it was a straight out cut... I recommend you go ahead and get therapy before it gets worse cuz it can lead to alot worse..... Please get help!!!

Also my arms look horrible.. Ive had prolly thousands of stitches and it just gets worse....

i started cutting last year. i had a horrible day at school thanks to the bullies and fake friends then i got home and there was that huge problem and i got yelled at for no reason. i ran to my room, i sat down on the ground and opened my drawer. i found a small scissor and i start scratching with it, at first i didnt thought of it as "S.I "or "cutting" i just felt the need to do so...

I started cutting when I was 11 and I don't even know why. I look back on my childhood and I feel like I had it all. I was happy and all I had to do was be a kid and play outside with my brother, sister and cousins. I was happy, then one day it started and I became addicted. I hope you can find a way to stay away from Self-Injuring because it's so senseless and I wish I had never started. Message me if you need to talk to anyone.

When i first started i was recovering from anorexia, i started scratching myself and accidental shaving cuts. For me it was like i was giving up one demon and starting another one. Unfortunately i gave in to my urge yesterday when angry. I regret it, i now have to start counting the days when I am free from doing so. I hope to beat just over 3 months and carry on going from then on.