[Catsarecool]

So today I was thinking why are things like smoking thought of as ok and something that people talk about easily when it's exactly the same as si, people do it for many different reasons and it gives them relief, but it's hurting their bodies to. Bit while smoking is ok si is thought to be terrible! I'm not advertising that self harm or smoking are right btw I just don't get how they are different!

[Sam2]

Both smoking and cutting are self destructive, that is true. The difference is that smoking is not being used as a punishment on yourself. If you are upset about something, you don't think, hey, I hate myself, I think I'll go smoke a cigarette and hope I get lung cancer later on. Smoking is a habit, thats true, but the mindset is different.

Most cutters or other SI behaviors come with depression, anxiety and often the person is not functional. Smoking may use the nicotine and be addicted to it, but smoking does not necessarily mean that you are depressed. Take a high school kid who starts smoking because its cool or they want to fit in with their friends. After a while it becomes a habit, and while it may cause lung cancer later on, the reason for smoking was not to hurt themselves. The problems smoking cause are just effects of the behavior. People who SI are trying to injure themselves immediately and that is the whole purpose of doing it.

I don't know if that came out the way I wanted it to, but its as close as I can do to explain the difference.

Sam2

[Catsarecool]

Thanks I hadn't really thought about it that way.

[falsememory7]

Sam2 made some really good points - and I agree! In fact, it's kind of crazy that you posted this thread, Cats, because the same thought has crossed my mind. I think a lot of it deals with the fact that although the results of smoking cigarettes and SIing are the same, the reasons why people begin are usually different. The intentions are different... I feel though, that there is a very fine line that separates the two, and I guess that a very easy answer is that society is crooked.