Asperger's and Self-Harm (Self-Mutilation)

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Self harm is a major problem in those with LFA so it seems logical alot of people with aspergers or HFA would self harm. It does appear to be more common in women than men in the general population.

I think self harm is more common than people think, through my life i've known a few people who do this including myself. In theory it should be something people avoid doing, but physical pain can be very effective at 'cutting off' other types of pain. It can also be the only way to cope with day to day life, certain aspects of which are out of our control.

I think it's important for people to learn 'appropriate' methods of coping, but i have no idea where or how these are learnt, i'm not even sure how or where i learnt to cut when things are bad. It just seemed to be instinctive, does that mean knowing how to cope appropriately is also instinctive?

Web Page Name self harm info

for many years i would lash my bare back with knotted horse reins. i couldn't stop, the pain was so great i would dissasociate and become numb. i would repeat to myself that i was stupid. sometimes i would punch my face in front of my dad - he would smile. my dad was extreemly narcisstic to the point of being a deity!! when i want to self harm i look at the scars on my leg and say to myself that i can't beat aspergers out of myself. my mom beat me to appease my dad who was greatly ashamed of my autism. i just can't hurt myself anymore. Now i let myself have meltdowns with out guilt.

my brotherwho recently turned thirteen still has temper tantrums akin to a toddler as his aspergers is more severe whilst I've tried all types of self harm and when experiencing a melt down will regularly punch things or bang my head against things...sometimes broke things as I don't realise how much strength I have at those moments.

I haven't harmed myself, for three and a half years, now.

I used to self-harm quite badly and frequently(cutting and burning) for several years, it's one of the worst decisions I've *ever* made. I have horrific and permanent scarring from it, along with other physical complications. I'm still not sure what exactly caused it, I might not ever have an answer for "why"...I no longer do this though, last time I did it was several months ago...and the behavior had been declining for awhile by then anyway.

I used to cut a lot when I was younger, now I have scars everywhere and it sucks - though I think it was mostly because I was depressed and hated myself and thought I deserved to suffer. I still punch myself at times to the point where I have some massive bruises, but that's to relieve stress when I'm really overwhelmed. So I think there are different types of self-harm for different reasons.

I punch myself once in a while. I had a period where I would have rages and head-butt my monitor or a wall, but after looking into the science of hidden brain damage from blows to the head I stopped that practice.

I punch my knees if angry at something, but I don't cut or burn myself. I would never burn though, I hate burns, if I touch my soldering iron when working then I have to put up with the irritation of a burn for the rest of the day! I hate that.

I also pull my eyebrows out and scratch myself quite hard sometimes, but this is more stimming than mutilation, I don't intend to hurt myself.

ouch tough topic. There are holes in almost every door in my house, from when I was younger and had meltdowns. I would get in this mode where i would punch anything and everything until i cooled down. my knuckles are scarred up. as I got older and started getting threatened to be kicked out for my meltdowns, I had to find a way to not damage property.

my solution at the time, knives scissors and razor blades oh my . yeh so the killing myself idea didn't exactly work, because my sister stopped me multiple times. so now the result is a few 3-4 inch long scars on my left wrist.
I found that Muay Thai is my discipline and anger let out ... can't wait to start up again as soon as I get some $

My son who is 18, and newly diagnosed Aspergers cut off one of his fingers today. Please, are there anyone who know good treatment for this kind of behaviour? I just wish he could find himself and be happier!

Like many of you. I had a very difficult childhood and adolescence. I was never diagnosed and am only realising now I am 30 that I likely have AS. I became more and more depressed and lonely as I grew up feeling an outsider. I had bouts of very very intense depression and would have suicidal thoughts from at least as young as 12-13. This only got worse and worse as I got older. at about 15 i was pulling at my hair until some started coming out so I tried to stop. I also realised that digging my nails into my skin or nipping my skin tightly helped to control the tsunami of raw dispair that would sometimes consume me. This was not enough though and I still felt overpowered by these strong feelings of hopelessness. At 16 I broke apart an unused plastic razor and lightly ran the blade down a couple of cm of my upper arm. I felt all the anxiety just drain out of me. I did it a couple more times in straight controlled lines and laid back feeling more relaxed than I had in months. The depression and anxiety was so commonplace that I needed to do this regularly in order to function in my day to day life and eventually my arms were a mess of deep red cuts and scars. Many scars still remain if you look closely enough.

I gradually stopped myself doing this as I realised that it was not particularly healthy or likely to help me fit in long-term but I still maintain that if it was not for this ability to control my emotions when I felt them totally engulf me, I might not be hear today. I have relapsed a couple of times in the years since and feel quite comfortable that I have this (frowned upon) tool in my emotional tool-kit to use if things really become so back that I need to.

It may be that it is difficult to contemplate the kind of emotional tidal wave that I sometimes experienced (especially at that age) unless you have suffered from that yourself. I get the impression that some professionals who discuss cutting do not consider it to serve any purpose and is just a dirty habit to be broken. On the contrary, in my case I believe it may have saved my life. Not trying to glorify it but not selling it short either. It was what it was.

I've never cut or burned myself on purpose. But I have done other things like punching my face or legs, clawing or biting hands and arms and headbutting solid objects.

Many times it's an act of desperation, meant to filter out sensory overload and runaway emotions.

People have probably already said that, but it so easily misunderstood by the layman witness.

I have done different sorts for different reasons. When I was angry or upset at the way I handled a situation I used to cut myself with scissors or a knife, drink alcohol, stim or hit myself, although I'm more in control now and tend not to do this as much, especially not the cutting. When I get stressed I dig my fingernails down the sides of other fingernails and make them bleed but I don't usually notice this is happening until it bleeds or I feel pain. I never physically harm others unless they set out to harm me, and make sure I do any big ticket stimming away from people. When I'm experiencing high levels of physical pain I tend do try and cause physical pain elsewhere (biting etc), that way I'm distracted from the other pain with pain I'm in control of.

Stimming and acting to filter out overload is different and not really self harm for me, e.g. I'm not trying to damage, hurt or punish myself.

I used to self harm a lot, I've self harmed somewhat recently but still feel like I'm in a remission? I was borderline cutter, I think my anxiety issues saved me from going farther, as I would hyper focus on what would happen if I made it deep enough to bleed a lot. Plus all the bandages and stuff I would have to hide in my room along with the items...not worth it. A part of allure for me was the feeling of having items nobody knew about and only I knew where they were. I still have one item hidden, the rest are disposed of. It wasn't really about the pain, more that I had control of something. I still don't feel like I have control, and still don't feel like I'm coping properly. At least I'm not hurting myself anymore, for the most part.

Does anybody get bothered by self harm fantasies? I've never burned myself, but I constantly (even when I'm not in active self harm mode) think about it. Like, at least every day. Which gets annoying when I'm trying to stay away from self harm.

Hi there. I would advise speaking to a Doctor/ GP about this behaviour. I am no expert, but I suspect there is serious underlying problems which you may or may not know about. Is your son using any mental health/ support services currently?