Why do people on the spectrum cut themselves/self injure?

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Why do people cut themselves? People may cut themselves because:

They may not have developed healthy ways to cope with the pain of strong emotions, intense pressure, or upsetting relationship problems.

They may be trying to express strong feelings of rage, sorrow, rejection, desperation, longing, or emptiness.

They may have had a traumatic experience, such as living through abuse, violence, or a disaster.

They may feel that they don't fit in or that no one understands them.

They may have problems with drug or alcohol abuse.

They may have lost someone close.

They may have other mental health problems that contribute to their emotional tension, such as depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, obsessive thinking, or compulsive behaviors.

They may even be succumbing to peer pressure to cut themselves because all their friends are doing it.

Please follow this link: Teen's Health - Cutting

Self harm is the result (at least it was for me) of being unable to feel anything. I was very numb for several years and used self harm to remind myself that I was still living, even if I didn't feel that way very often.
If I could go back and stop myself from adapting to that bad behavior, I would in a heart beat. It damaged me more than it helped and I now have to live with the scars for the rest of my life, which has made me unable to pursue some of my lifelong ambitions, such as joining the air force.

I've been free of self harm for 4 years now, though, and although I've slipped up since then, I've found much safer and more appropriate coping mechanisms.

I agree this is from my last and worst incident from years ago and I will have this scar for the rest of my life![img][img]http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/471/img20120607150715.jpg[/img] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/img]

I have some scars on the back of my hands that are impossible to hide. I sometimes notice people taking note of them. No one has said anything to me though, at least not so far. I'm not sure what I'd say if they did.

luckily i aim in spots where there are not veins oO

chest/shoulders/upper arms/upper forearms.

last cut is 3-4mm wide 20cm long.

don't cut your belly...it's rather unpleasant.

I agree with the people posting here who say that self harm was as a result of feeling numb, the only times Ive done it (not much at all, maybe 4-5 times in the past 3 years) have been so i can just feel bad and move on, or divert my attention from feeling bad or hopeless on the inside. Transferrance of emotional pain to physical has always really helped me for some reason. Mostly i have cut the tops of my arms or burned myself. Ive never cut deep though, only just enough till it bleeds. Im too much of a p**** to go any further than that , apart from once when i was a teenager which i still have the scar from, though its quite faded now.

I am on the spectrum, and I do not cut myself or self-injure.

The same goes for many others on the spectrum.

So I don't know.

when i was a baby, i would bang my head without stopping. they'd take me to the hospital and i would keep banging my head into the floor at the hospital. this happened when i got mad/frustrated.
i think my desire to hurt myself comes from frustration, usually with myself for being unable to be what others want. i really don't know.
the feelings i'm trying to express are frustration, guilt, and helplessness. mostly anger. at myself.

I HAVE BEEN HURTING, AND HURTIN MYSELF PSYCHOLOGIVCALLY..I ONLY SEEM TO THRIVE IN NEGATIVE SITUATIONS, OR I can feel and predict them...everytime I say something positive is going to happen I tell myself: this is not true it will not happen...and it doesn't. People say when you send negative thoughts they will materialize whatever one wishes for...you believe that?

Last edited by Loborojo on 19 Dec 2012, 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Self harm and OCD tend to go hand in hand, yes. Although self harm is most certainly not exclusive to OCD.

Speaking for myself, I have used self harm in the past as a coping measure for both anxiety and depression. The idea is to shut everything else out by applying painful sensation that cannot be ignored. The most dangerous part of self harm is that it works and it can become highly addictive, especially if the person is not trying any other treatments for their mental distress (meds, therapy, exercise).

While I am on the topic, the way I have managed to reduce the frequency of my self harming behaviour is to stack up a long list of coping mechanisms that must be attempted in order before self harm is allowed to be an option. For me it is this, in order, no steps may be skipped:

1. Insert earplugs, close eyes, take deep regular breaths
2. Pace around the room (if this is feasible in the situation). My therapist gave me this tip. It is good advice to keep body active in times of severe anxiety rather than shut down and not move.
3. Hold ice cube on palm of hand
4. Take one tab of Ativan

and if after those four steps have been completed and I still require more, I will self harm. It has only happened once in the past three months. Progress.

Last edited by MrStewart on 19 Dec 2012, 4:22 pm, edited 3 times in total.

I was a head banger, too. I loved the sensory flash, the complete temporary flood of sound and flashing light, and the floaty feeling afterward. My wife still does it when she gets really stressed. I did some bowl burns as a stoner, and a few little razor cuts to spell out LOVE and PEACE on my ankles, but those faded really fast. So count me in on the "pain=satisfying" spectrum.

niether do many people who cut themselves, but they do it anyway.

Long before I knew I was on the spectrum (back in the sixties when autism first became known about to the public) I used to hear that autistic children would self injure, and chew their arms or some such thing.

So there maybe a uniquely autistic form of self injury that can start with head banging or the like in infancy, then there maybe the seperate generic form of self injury (usually adolescent or later) that nt's or aspies might succumb to ( like cutting).

Never was into cutting, but did have an obsession that started in adolescence with pulling on my nose (which i already described in boring ghastly detail in some other thread here) that was only slightly less gross and painful than cutting. Comparable to anorexia in some ways. So I put myself down "yes" for self injury, as well as for aspergers.

Ostensibly having to do with vanity the habit was feed by anger and stress- some which was caused by having aspergers, but maybe not really a symptom of aspergers per se.

I don't cut much, but pain in general gives me something to focus on, which can be nice.

With me it was compulsive curiosity, for some reason I was interested in seeing my lips crack and bleed.
These days, many decades later I almost do this combing my hair, until I nearly bleed. OK, a few times I actually had a few scabs. But now fear of disfigurement kind of acts as a break to this type of thing. Fortunately!

Sincerely,
Matthew

PS.

I also developed some of these self-injury type actions when I suffered a Major Depression back in 1980/81.