It came up in one of my psychology classes. Someone mentioned that her sister was a cutter, and two others had a sister or a friend who was (out of only six there - it was a distance class and we were at a remote site - the professor at another location). I went ahead and told them that I was a self-injurer, and let them ask questions about it. They were polite - just wanted to understand it. You may not feel comfortable discussing self-injury with your classmates, and that's fine. I have been very disinhibited about this, and probably talk about it too much. But chances are that more people will understand about it than you think.

Today at work we had PCS training (Positive Control Systems). It's about being in control when the residents act up; everything from managing the situation through communication (verbal and nonverbal) through take-downs if necessary. The instructor said that he has only needed to do a take-down twice in two years there. Both times it was with a girl who was going to cut or otherwise injure herself. They said that four or five of the 23 girls are cutters (I noticed one girl's scars on my first day there). So that launched a discussion about cutting - with everyone saying they just didn't understand it. And I really can't have people at work know that I do that, so I just had to stay out of the discussion. That felt awkward, since I really would have liked to try to help them understand it. Sometimes I'm amazed at the irony that I'm staff rather than a resident.


Sometimes I worry too that someone will notice my scars at work. Mine are not very noticeable, but one day I got called in to sub for someone, and wasn't expecting to work that day, and I was wearing pants that were short enough to show some of the scars on my leg when I was sitting down. I don't think anyone noticed though. I hope I don't ever have to take them swimming or something like that - I'm not sure I will ever make a public appearance in a swimming suit again.