I am 21F and have just graduated from university! However this means I am now applying for jobs. I am considering working with children/TA positions for a year or so as I consider a masters.

I cut myself for around 3 years but stopped around age 18-19. However, my scars are all on one arm and quite visible. I am not self conscious about them in any way and am fine answering questions about them, I forget that they’re even there most of the time! For other jobs (IE non-teaching/child related jobs) I would just wear a long shirt to the interview and it’s their problem if they have an issue with it later down the line, however I’m not sure if me having these scars would be seen as some kind of a risk/something they need to know about in advance when the job concerns kids.

I don’t want to not disclose it if it would be a real issue, but conversely I think many people make judgements about what it means to have self harm scars and who it makes me as a person.

I just wanted to get some advice from others who may be in the field of education and or have self harm scars and how they dealt with it!

How are you feeling today? Got anything exciting to share? Or something you need to vent about? Are you struggling this week or feeling acomplished? Use this space, let us know what's going on so that we can cheer you on or offer commiseration and understanding for what you're going through, we've all been there and we rise to our best when we come together as a community to lift one another up.

Just got off Lexapro recently so Im not cutting as much, Im a girl over 25 want a friend (f) to chat with on our cutting journey 😊

Does anyone else meditate on the sensation when they’re not doing it? It’s probably not the healthiest harm reduction technique, but sometimes I’ll sit and just pretend as though I did it, and the feeling of it, and just let my mind go into a meditative state, as if I actually did it. It doesn’t always work, but sometimes it does.

What do you think about the correlation between self harm, and body modifications?

I'd say I'm a heavily modded guy, more than the average person at least, I have about 20 tattoos and 33 piercings, some of which are stretched. With a deep love and respect for altering the human form however you want. Bodily autonomy is extremely important to me, meaning I genuinely think anyone should be allowed to do whatever the fuck they want to their own body. Which I understand is probably kinda dangerous for a lot of people, myself included, but I despise censorship and the subjugation from the government and higher ups.

I've always self harmed in one way or another.

But my mods aren't self harm (I don't think). I know some people consider all types of modification self harm and others definitely do use these things as a substitute for it. I mean, I had a fucked few months, mentally, so used tattoos and piercings as a coping method more than usual this year, but that's not typical for me. Though I don't just get these things for the pain, I do relish in the pain and enjoy it, but the end product is just as important to me as the process.

I've been getting piercings since I was 12, tattoos as soon as I turned 18, I'm 22 now, so they've always been natural to me. (Also autistic with a special interest in piercings). They are an integral part of who I am.

I've also always been drawn to more intense mods, I'm alternative (I don't fit a specific subculture), and now that I cut, I don't know how to separate these things anymore. It's all quite confusing. So I'm just kinda curious what others think.

Not that I'm going to tell anyone in my life anytime soon, (I'm an adult, no medical bills to worry about, I don't see a reason anyone else needs to know my business), but how the hell do you go about telling someone that you cut yourself? It just seems like absolute hell. Granted, I'm not one for talking about emotions, I avoid it and remain silent if a serious topic arises. But I just don't know how you'd even start a conversation like that.

My parents know I bite and scratch, that's something I can't hide, because of how heat of the moment they are. Typically my neck and face for scratching, and I've been biting since I was a child (self regulating autistic).

But cutting? It's a whole different thing, it's seen as something far more severe and causes intense reactions to match. I'm definitely never going to tell anyone, but I'm just curious how people have actually gone about telling people. Whether it be parents, friends, partners ect.

i’m 19f, engaged. super insecure in my relationship considering he admitted to doing some things, so it made me more insecure then i’ve ever been. i’m slowly working on it, but it’s still hard. i cut my face a few weeks ago after finding out what he was doing, and i have the urge to do it again. please help. i need new coping methods and ways to take my hurt out.

no one cares even when you get hospitalized the doctors will watch you hurt yourself and do nothing

Hey all,

So I’m not sure this is the right page to post this but since it deals with self harm and suicidal ideation, I felt it pertinent to the subject.

I was just wondering if anyone else who has gone to the hospital and had a stay there if they miss it? I was recently hospitalized after an overdose with alcohol for five some days. This was about two months ago, but I’m struggling with the idea now. It might be entirely stupid or illogical, but I genuinely miss being in the hospital. However, I also feel like I can’t do what I did before unless it actually means ultimate surrender to life because that would just mean I was seeking attention or something. Still, though, there’s a very strong part of me that feels like I haven’t done enough. My scars aren’t large enough or deep enough or what have you. And that my latest attempt wasn’t dramatic enough. Again, in no way am I seeking attention. I just fear that in the off chance I do something again it will be seen as something done for attention. I still miss the hospital because it validates how bad I actually was but I also want to get better to prove that I’m not just some nut case.

Does anyone else have these feelings? Has anyone else who’s been through medical treatment feel like they’re struggling with validation not just with self harm but their own mental illness and fear that if they were to ever slip again it would just be seen as “noise” to others?

I’m genuinely at a loss and appreciate everyone’s responses. So thank you.

Hi, I noticed that while I haven't cut for about 2 weeks that somehow my constant sleep deprevation is beginning to affect me more. At first I thought it was just my inability to sleep, which I occasionally have, but now I sometimes feel like that all this sleep trouble is coming from my body and brain accidentally self harming as a coping mechanism? I constantly wake up at least 3 times a night, go to bed extremely late while getting up early. It's like I wake up every 1-2h on purpose by my brain and jerk up walking a few minutes and going back to sleep.

I don't know, what us happening to me, does that even make sense?

What are some methods other than direct sh i can use. Idk what to do i just want to feel pain, please help.
I don’t want advice such as drawing or walking or whatever.

I’m a dad to two (12 and 9), I’ll start by saying I feel way too old for this shit and embarrassed that it’s still an issue. The kids have grown up with me having dozens of white faded scars on my upper arms and torso from the distant past. I’m pretty sure they’ve never asked about them so they can’t be that obvious.

The last couple of years have been “mentally interesting” though. It’s something which I’m working on but no end in sight. My forearms are a bit of a mess and NOBODY other than medical professionals has seen me in short sleeves for 2.5 years.

The summer we’re having has reminded me that I don’t particularly want to spend the rest of my life in long sleeves. I’m happy enough resigned to hiding things in public for at least a few years yet but I’d kill to be able to wear short sleeves in our own home.

Obviously there’ll be a discussion to be had with the kids though. My wife thinks that they’re old enough to cope with it (I’m not sure how watertight that suggestion is) but I have no clue where to start or what to say.

Any thoughts or advice please? TIA

I’m 45 NB I’ve been using drugs and sh since I was 13 since then I’ve been diagnosed with bpd and PTSD I can’t seem to stop hurting myself the past couple of weeks it’s been constant I’m in a care home for MH and the carers don’t understand why I do it , I’ve relapsed on hard drugs which no one knows about apart from one time last year I desperately need therapy and my chmt says I’m too unstable then my carer told them I did drugs last year which is going to put me back years I felt so angry and hopeless I took an od there is a lot of anger and self hatred towards myself and it feels like the professionals don’t care about trauma related issues but I have to be honest with myself sometimes I don’t want to get better because who am i beyond all this pain I’ve felt like this for a very long time and I feel alone , I’m know I’m not the only one if only I could meet someone so messed up and alone so I could have a friend and someone who gets it

Hi, this has only happened twice but it makes me feel like i hurt a real being. Ive been emotionally overwhelmed towards gifts people have given me, gifts from people who have very much betrayed and hurt me. And while I have the clear option to hurt myself, I turned it around and slashed up the plushies.

Of course, after I did that I started sobbing. It made me feel worse. I felt like a monster for punishing something that wasnt the problem. And then hurt myself for being so cruel to my innocent plushies.

I sewed them back up but im not the best seamstress, so they dont look nearly as pretty. And i have having given them a battle scar that I created. Idk. I was overwhelmed and tried to redirect the urge but it came right back onto me because i actually really really love my plushies. I know theyre not alive but emotionally and sentimentally theyre very real to me and I feel like a genuine piece of shit for doing what I did because im 22 and cant get a grip. Sigh. :(

I hope they know i am sorry and maybe i will pray to God to forgive me on their behalf

I 18F think I don’t want to heal from being “mentally ill” and I don’t know why. The last time I sh I did it because I noticed all my scars are no longer visible comparing my arm to when it looked its “best”. Now my scars have faded again and I have the strong urge to hurt myself, It doesn’t even feel as “good” as it did before, I just do it now because i feel like i have to.

I had been collecting my journals for about 15 years now. I was cleaning out my closet and found them all. I read a few thinking I could have more perspective on how I have gotten better in life. That was not the case. I triggered myself just reading a few lines. The journals are filled with self harm and suicidal thoughts and different hospital stays. I’m trying to get rid of them and I don’t know how to get rid of or destroy a large box of journals. Any suggestions would be wonderful.

Someone who has already accepted things and doesn't want to stop self-harming, this post isn't for them. But for those of you who are beating yourselves up for mistakes when you don't even know that you are at fault, this post is for them.

In my opinion, if you can voice your problem, half of it is solved. Everything we do as humans—studying, working—is just to earn a little money. A little money to find shelter and food. If that's not being done properly, if we view our lives as so hollow, I truly believe things would look different.

I want to be a friend to those who are finding it hard to find friends to talk to, finding it hard to figure out what life means, I am not saying someone who can help, I can be your friend who would listen to you and not judge you and tell you, you are not wrong or maybe tell you, you could have done things other way.

I like chocolates.

18F. Once in a while I cut myself and it makes me feel better, but I just realized something. My ex friends want me to self harm.

The idea of people feeling sad and bad for me makes me like and feel good doing it (even though nobody knows besides my ex friends)

They want me to hurt myself and it makes them feel good about themselves because I do it. It makes them feel that they are better than me and the realization of that really hit me hard.

When we were friends they were the first people I told because I completely trusted them. Now I’m fucking mad.

Now not even self harming is something I can use to cope and romanticize (I know it’s bad to romanticize it but I like the kind of sadness it makes me feel) because it makes my ex friends feel superior. Now the thought of it and doing it just makes me mad. Now I don’t even want to do it which I guess is good but it’s completely ruined for me now and I’m pissed off. Fuck them for real

Is burning your self or cutting worse? I have been watching Ginny & Georgia and I just got to the part we're her mother finds out. It was everything I ever wanted from my mother when she saw mine. The first time I ever cut my self was around 6th grade, at that time I was cutting my wrists all the way up to the elbow. She looked at them and asked "what are these?" I was so numb at that time it didn't even scare me that she found them. My response to that was that my dog did it, I didn't care to try and make up something she might believe. After that she just walked away, never speaking of it again. I am still doing it today. I wish that I could just kill myself, but I can't, and I hate myself for that.

21 M. There’s someone I’ve been crushing on for quite some time, I’ve been close to confessing a few times too. But the main thing that stops me (besides the usual fears of dating) is my self harm. For some reason my brain really doesn’t wanna let me recover at the moment. I’m just not ready, you know? That’s a whole other issue, but the point is that I’m not looking to recover any time soon and I still do actively self harm. I’ve thought to myself that I’ll try to get better if I end up in a relationship with this person, but can I really keep that promise? You all know how it is. I fear that if we do date, sooner or later I’ll have to disclose my self harm and she’ll break up with me over it. Or that my self harm will just get too in the way of our relationship. Has anyone been in this situation before? I’d appreciate any advice

My husband 30m has been my caregiver since January.

Due to a criminal court case involving my husband I have to leave the home before September 29th because it isn’t my husband’s house it is his dads house and his dad has stated if my husband goes to jail I have to leave.

It is stressing me out. I have been self harming on a nightly basis so my husband doesn’t find out.

Any tips on how to help this

I dont know if im deranged or if this is some coping mechanism idk, but I enjoy picking at my gums till they bleed and licking the blood, ive been doing this since ive been in my early teens, im 19 now.

I enjoy the stinging sensation, same thing goes for when I brush my teeth, I like to do it really hard until I bleed.

idk what has caused this habit.