Taboo

I've noticed that the subject of self-injury makes most people, especially those who don't do it, extrememly uncomfortable. I understand that this is somewhat expected, but it seems to me that it makes people more uncomfortable than talking about other problems. Why is self-injury so, SO taboo?

That really is a good question. I guess it is a scary thing, and people who are not familar with it don't know what it is and what it means. A lot of them tend to assume that there is a connection between SI and suicide. Self-injurers are usually self-conscious about it and secretive, and it seems that people generally just don't want to talk about it. Just that in and of itself makes it more of an unknown, and people are afraid of the unknown, and of things that are different or that they don't understand.

Other self-destructive behaviors like alcohol and drug abuse, compulsive gambling, among others, are more out in the open and better recognized. They are not so far outside the realm of common experience. Even eating disorders have started to be relatively well understood and accepted by much of the general population.

I have been noticing that self-injury also is starting to be talked about more, and more people have heard of it and are prepared to deal with it than used to be the case. About 15 years ago, although I was a self-injurer, I didn't know what it was and had never heard of it, and when I mentioned to a therapist that I had tried to cut my wrists and thought I was pathetic because all I managed were scratches, he seemed to have no clue how to deal with it. He didn't say anything, but later confronted me with it, indicating that there was something that didn't add up and he essentially didn't believe me. Now we hear about SI on television shows, and you won't find a therapist that doesn't know something about it. Thre are books about it, and lots of information and discussion available on the internet. The topic came up in a psychology class I took recently. Of the six of us there that day at my location (distance class), four knew someone (a friend or a sister) who was a self-injurer, and one (me) was a self-injurer. One whose sister self-injures did seem a little uncomfortable with the topic, although she was the one who brought it up, but the rest were more curious than anything else, and wanted to understand. It is more prevalent than I would have ever guessed before. One statistic I have seen indicated that one in a hundred people self injure. So in a small town with about 6000 people, like where I live, there are probably about 60 self-injurers. I think that must be about right, as I know a few of them.

So, I think that maybe the taboo is starting to lift as the information age makes it easier for more people to get the facts about things that never used to be discussed before.

<font color=orange>"If a light beckons to you, follow it. If it leads you into the quagmire, you'll probably find your way out of it again; but if you don't follow it, you'll be plagued for the rest of your life by the thought that perhaps it was your star." Friedrich Hebbet</font color=orange>

I completely agree with Rapunzel. People fear what they do not understand. I guess it is human nature...a kind of defense mechanism. It seems to be the same with lots of things..like depression, sexual assault, domestic abuse and so forth. I have always been one to feel that they best way to encourage tolerance is to teach. Perhaps is people could be taught they would be more open minded to reach out to those who do self injury..and help.

Jessica

<font color=blue> You are in this snowglobe. It is encovered in glass and secure. But one day someone comes and shakes the globe and the pieces go flying everywhere. Now they will eventually settle but they won't be the way they were before and they can never be that way again. </font color=blue>

I agree also, people don't understand and can't comprehend the sensations/feelings that push us to do what we do.

I don't think it is something that can be cured either - just kept under control, hopefully indefinitely.


Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
Dorothy Bernard

Hey, It is a very unconfrontable (how ever u spell that word) subject. I even get unconfrontable talking about it. I even had a EMT-P ask me why i do it, and i felt ashamed talking about it. cause he dont know. But he was unconfrontable to ask too. Its mostly because SI on skin is a scary thing to think of.

Planning to Exist,
I guess the biggest hope any of us can have is that it can be controlled. I have been cut free for over a year now and have had urges..I won't lie because they do happen. However, it does get easier and I find myself thinking about it less and less.
There is hope...we need to have it to survive.

Jessica

<font color=blue>The worst is over now and we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away
There’s so much left to learn, and no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain</font color=blue>