One of the reasons I began cutting was because someone else that I knew was. Then I tried it one day after an abuse situation and was amazed because I no longer felt the physical pain from the abuse but felt the fresh cut I had made. Then I continued as diversionary tactic. but somewhere along the way I started craving that kind of pain cutting gives. Sounds wierd and I have no idea where it comes from but a saying goes through my head - pain is good. So when I'd hear that voice I'd cut to make it go away. As time went on I found other things that hurt and made that voice go away. pretty soon I didnt wait to even hear that voice. Whenever I was alone I was doing something to hurt myself. One day a friend caught me so I tried to stop. Then I learned to cut and stuff after things built up to explosion level. Now why do I do it? Partly because of the voice and partly because of explosion level - need to feel the pain to make the voice go away and release after things build up to a certain level.