Would it also be a risky behavior associated with suicidal ideation? The idea of cutting but not going deep? So it is risk taking. But there also must be a sense of control.

I am wondering if meditation would help. One idea about meditation is to be able to stay with the pain of whatever comes up, and acknowledge it.

I can relate to one thing here and that is when the mental pain gets ratcheted up to such a degree that there needs to be something to release that build up of horrible tension.

I have heard that some people hit themselves in the head (See Douglas Bloch's Healing From Depression website) or scream or throw things, as a release, and a physical manifestation.

I have meditated for a very long time, and I think maybe it always gave me a container in which to hold pain as I don't feel the need to express mental pain. I don't even cry. When the mental pain is beyond me I do deep breathing, take a hot bath, or go for a walk/run. But meditation brings the greatest relief. I have been actively meditating and it automatically cools down the mental heat. It doesn't dissolve the pain entirely but it dissipates it.

Perhaps teens are cutting because they don't have ample coping mechanisms. Heck, when I was a teen my parents were telling me to "cope" but not how to do it. I smoked cigarettes, drank, and smoked pot, but I was also a good student and worked part-time jobs as a lifeguard. I liked long bike rides, and endurance swimming. My mother enrolled me in a scuba diving certification class one summer when I was really depressed. I was angry but when I took the class I found out it was a lot of fun. The certification process was extremely difficult, so I basically spent all summer getting really physically fit.

I know that a lot of anorexics are finding relief in a vegan diet, and that's great news. Something is actually working. Now...that is what is needed for cutting. Something to cope that would work. Maybe meditation classes???

Thank you for this discussion. This habit of cutting seriously disturbs me even though I never engaged in this type of SH.