1. Scars. If you make scars that never fade, you will have to deal with them for the rest of your life. Deal with explaining them, trying to hide them, or trying to get rid of them and feeling ashamed of them (as many people do).

2. If it gets bad enough you risk hospitalization.

3. You hurt others that love you and worry them. This in turn, will likely cause you pain, as well.

4. Having to hide things from loved ones. Can contribute to dishonesty, shame, and having to hide your injuries, which isn't always easy to do. Then dealing with their reaction when they find out. Also dealing with worrying about, "What if?" they find out.

5. Risk causing permanant damage to yourself that doesn't heal- and I'm not talking about scars.

6. You hate yourself even more AFTER you SI. I know I do.

7. Nosey questions from strangers. And trying to come up with excuses for strangers, doctors, people you know, etc.

8. Provides only temporary relief.

9. It is addicting.

10. The main reason I SI'd was to deal with anger. When in that moment, if you are used to SI'ing, you might end up SI'ing in front of someone in the heat of the moment (anger is pretty driving and sort of takes over sometimes, and you can't always find a place to run off to) and that could damage relationships and really hurt the other person who is there with you.

11. Damage to property can sometimes occur.

12. You set this example for other people, including impressionable youth. You could be teaching them a negative way of dealing with their emotions, if they see what you are doing.

13. Ignorant people- including therapists- that don't understand why you do it, but THINK they do. Grrrrrr!

To Saphael,

you said it wasn't that difficult to hide. To a degree, this is true, depending on a person's situation. Yet, it is almost impossible to hide if you have an intimate partner. Also, it can be limiting and controlling in other areas of your life, if you attempt to conceal it. It is difficult to hide in a bathing suit, for example, as many people have mentioned on here. Sure, we don't have to wear swim suits, but if you want to go swimming, it will be difficult for you to swim and hide your scars and injuries. And I for one, love to swim. We could simply avoid swimming, but for those who enjoy it, trying to hide the scars is definitely a downside.

It is also difficult to hide if you are going to the doctors and they need to see much skin at all- or if they need to see the skin you happened to have abused. If you have an intimate partner, they might wonder why you suddenly won't so much as change clothes with the lights on. It can take awhile for some injuries to heal and by that point they will often be more than suspicious, unless you normally never let them see you undress. Otherwise, they're going to want to know what is wrong. And if the mark scars, well, they will discover it eventually. It's also difficult to conceal if you get a new job and your uniform shirt has short sleeves and you've just done a number on your arm. It would be difficult to hide scars from old wounds if you had a job or went to a school were short sleeves were required. Or if you want to join the swim team (or even go to a pool party and not stay out of the pool the whole time), cheerleading squard, or anything that requires you to show much skin.

What about donating blood with SI'd arms? You want to hide the marks, but you want to help do good in the world. Again, it becomes a problem. Or what about when you're working out? I like to dress in something that I won't burn up in when I work out, cause I know my temp. will rise as I exercise. If you exercise with a partner or in public, you might want to cover up more, if you don't want them to see the marks.

You also have to wear long sleeves in hot weather if you do anything on your forearms. And what about unique situations coming up- such as a friend asking a lady to be a bridesmaid, and guess what? She's ordering everyone sleeveless dresses, cause she has no idea you SI.

Yes, it's not that difficult to hide IF you limit your wardrobe selection, limit what you can do (like swimming), and don't have an intimate partner, and manage to- for better or worse- avoid the doctor. Mostly, these are things we can avoid, but it limits and controls us, and costs us comfort, freedom, and enjoyable activities. Yet, the one thing that really sticks out to me is having an intimate partner, such as a spouse, because if you have one or want to get one, you should know, it's about impossible to hide SI from them. Out of curiosity- how many people have have tried to hide SI from a spouse or intimate partner?