I guess I actually started self-injuring when I was about 6 years old. I don't remember the specific triggers, but I was extremely frustrated and felt like nobody listened to me or understood me (or tried). The thing that I wanted them to understand was that I really wanted to be good, but grown-ups were always after me about things I did wrong, and I didn't mean to, and I felt like they didn't believe me that I didn't mean to be bad.

It wasn't actually cutting at that point - what I did was bite myself, but the actual method doesn't matter.

When I was 20 I tried cutting my wrists with a safety razor. All I managed was scratches. At the time, I thought it was a suicide attempt.

It was several years after that when I really started cutting though. I had lived with depression and never gotten effective treatment, for so long, and I felt trapped, and I couldn't deal with it anymore. As much as I hate to say it, it took cutting for me to be taken seriously. People can't look into your soul and see that you are hurting, and have been as long as you can remember. As long as you quietly keep it to yourself and don't cause trouble, they don't see any urgent problems. I didn't have any other way to show someone that I was at the end of my rope and couldn't take any more.

Now it's a habit, and the first thing I think of when I'm not comfortable with my emotions. It takes less of a trigger and I'm capable of more damage. There are many reasons - punishing myself, communicating, dissociation, .... I've still never done anything bad enough to require medical treatment though, and I don't think I ever will. I am working on it, but sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. The longer you let it go on, the harder it is - it gets worse and it gets harder to stop. My advice is to get help with it now (or rather with the underlying feelings and stuff), and keep trying until you find effective help. You don't have to live with it, and you are worth so much more.