General Feedback
2006
Andrea writes:
Nobody at my school knew anything about cutting and self-mutalation until I found this web site. None of the counselors, therapists, nurses, or teachers understood until I arrived. I was sent to a psyciatric hospital because nobody knew about self injury. I am so glad that this web site exsists because I was the first, but I will not be the last one with an issue of self harm. Someone else can benefit from me speaking up about this. Thank you Psyke.org.
2005
Samantha writes:
I just wanted to tell you how much I love your site it really helps me out to know I’m not alone. I’ve been cutting for three and a half years and been put in therapy.
Thanks again for all the help. The world needs more people like you who are willing to support what we do.
An anonymous visitor writes:
Thank you for having this site as a resource for troubled people like me. Psyke.org has helped me very much in the past year. Possibly even saved my life.
Samantha writes:
Look, this site is fucked up. There is no right for this site to even be in order. All this site is doing is showing people it’s OK to cut and see, I’ve had a fucked up life and I watched my mother kill herself. And that was only last year. And it’s been hard and I’m not saying I haven’t cut but this site is too fucked up to be a website. And I don’t see how this is supposed to help people. It’s only making things worse. I don’t care if you listen to me or just whatever. But I’m telling you what I think and a lot of my friends have accounts on this and they just got into it from thinking it was OK to cut because everyone else does it.
An anonymous visitor writes:
I completely disagree with this site. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that you’re trying to help people, but for me cutting wasn’t as open as people are about it. I mean I’m sure some of you do it for the right reason, and by writing this I’m not criticising about the people here. But the site in general is not a good idea in my opinion. If people didn’t know that others used cutting as a stress reliever or whatever they use it for, they wouldn’t get the idea. And in my opinion, and from my past expieriences, if cutting is publicised then they are going to think it’s more normal and accepted and not feel like it’s such a bad thing. And also what I’m seeing with people these days is they don’t want to hide it. And putting pictures on this site is not going to help. It’s like I saw in someone elses comments, it is going to create sick twisted thoughts and could in fact in the end make things worse. Maybe this doesn’t really apply to everyone but think about the people it does apply to. I am one of those people and I really wish I hadn’t have seen pictures. And don’t say that it’s my fault I looked at them but I didn’t kno what I was going to look at. I don’t mean to sound mean by any means I’m just putting in my opnion. I would really like to see the pictures at least on this site be taken off but I can’t do really anything about it except express my opinions.
Ez writes:
I’ve been visiting your site for quite some time now. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your honest portrayal of life with self-injury.
Katie writes:
I managed to stop self harming, with help from a psychiatrist, and I am now recieving scar treatment to help reduce the scars. I just wanted to say thank you. This website was a huge help to me, and I wanted to say thank you for the support it gave me.
Katerina writes:
Thanks. This website has helped me more then any hospital or shrink or counsellor. Nice knowing I’m not alone and there’s other people like me and stuff…
An anonymous visitor writes:
I’m honestly quite surprised to have found this site. A good friend of mine has been cutting for four years. I found out two months ago, and several other kids found out as well. I told an adult, the medical doctor at our school, and now my friend will be getting help.
How can you have this site? How can you let these kids share their feelings when you know that they’re out there suffering and alone? Reading other people’s stories, stories similar to theirs is not the same as getting help. These kids need help and it’s your responsibility to help them. Instead of a forum and directions for cleaning cuts, maybe it would be better to write about how their parents need to know, someone needs to know. These kids will already be haunted for their entire lives. Some will commit suicide, die from overdoses or loss of blood. It’s your responsibility to help them. It’s shameful that you do not even try.
Hottie writes:
I am thirty-four years old and I have discovered that I am not alone on this subject. I feel that there will one day be a way out. Reading the stories makes me feel at peace with myself.
Kaylee writes:
I’ve been coming to this site for a while now and I see that some of the pictures are missing and the layout is different. Different, not better. I try to encourage people to come here but I’m stoping becuase I think the site is going downhill and I think it should return to its original layout.
Sarah writes:
I really think Psyke.org is a great website. It has helped me through some hard times by helping me realize there are others out there like me and that makes me feel better.
Kiera writes:
I really love this site because, it has given me hope that my battle with self-mutilation, I can overcome. I have loved reading the stories of others and what they have to say. So I thank you for having made this site.
Tiffany writes:
I stumbled across this site looking for pictures to include in my church’s Easter drama. So many people fail to realise how lost and needy a generation we are in. I wanted to show some real life scenarios such as cutting, anorexia and drugs. I was in the library welling up with tears, trying so hard to hold it in. The stories, the cries for help, it was all so overpowering. No, I’m not writing to shove anything down your throat, never that. I just want you to know, all of you, you are loved. You are so loved by the one who created you. God the Father who sent his son Jesus Christ to die for you that you can have life more abundantly. These pictures are a ever so clear picture to me of how Jesus died, not self-inflicted but rather inflicted by others. The pain you feel, he too can relate. You are loved, and whether you see that in your friends or family, see it in God. My husband has the marks of cutting. It’s something he dealt with such a long time ago, but he has them. We have seldomed discussed it, but believe me, we will continue to so that we can tell the story to our children so that they can know how to express themselves. Please talk to someone let them know, seek help. No matter what they make you think, you are not alone.
Tatu writes:
This site is provoking people to slice and dice themselves. It’s really stupid and angst-like to gather pity with such actions. My demands doesn’t affect you at all without telling an example of my friend. She became addicted to cutting herself. I tried to make her stop, but all my attention just made her cut her wrists even more. I demand you to shut down this site and I ask you a question. Do you cut your wrists? I’ve come to know life by the hard way. Thinking more makes you understand how pointless this cutting is.
Annina writes:
Das ist eine der blödesten Seiten die ich je gesehen habe. Geht es etwa darum wer die schlimmsten Schnitte hat, oder was? Genau ihr seid es die die problematik Selbstverletzung und Borderline in ein Licht rückt für das ich mich schäme. Ich möchte nicht zu euch gehören. Auch ich verletze mich selbst, doch ich möchte damit aufhören. Und nicht damit prahlen. Oh schaut mal wie schlecht es mir geht? Ihr findet es geil. Je schlimmer eure verletzung destobesse ,na? Ihr sei doch echt zum kotzen. Und mir wäre es scheiss egal, wenn ihr euch umbringt um entgültig zu zeigen wie schlecht es euch geht. Schade kann ich kein Englisch. Ich hoffe irgendjemand versteht es trotzdem.
Nikki writes:
OK now I realize you’re trying to help but I mean really we got like a million sites trying to get us to stop. OK, if we want to stop (well first of all if we wanted to stop we couldn’t even if we had a web site) so how about a site that just says cutting is bad but if you’re a cutter you can talk to people here and help each other.
Tara writes:
Thank you for having this site. I’ve been slowly falling back in to old habits. This is an excellent deterrent.
Malice writes:
I recently found your site and it has helped me in so many ways. Awareness is the key in the fight to help cutters.
2004
Matt writes:
Thank you. Your site is amazing and very moving. I myself find it hard to cope and know many people that also find it hard to cope. This site has been a wake up call and I plan to continue my clean streak for as long as I can.
Heidi writes:
My name is Heidi and I am a social worker in Canada. I have recently come across this site and it has helped me in many ways.
I have many clients who engage in self-mutilation and by reading all of your life histories, and seeing the pictures, it gives me an understanding of what you go through.
I want all of you to know that I Have read your stories and seen your pictures and I do care! I have cried, I have tried putting myself in each of your shoes to try to deeply understand this disease.
I want all of you to know that there is hope. There are people (like me) who will listen and care about you. My heart goes out to each and every one of you.
Do not give up hope. There is a light at the end of the very dark and bleak tunnel. I want to thank all of you for the courage to share your pictures and your life stories. This site has helped me more than you will ever know. My clients would thank all of you as well, because through your sharing, I am able to share that they are not alone and help them.
Thank you again and please do take care.
Megan writes:
I would just like to say thank you so much for making this site. I have been dealing with cutting, burning, and bruising for over seven years, and it helps so much to know that there are people out there who are coping with the same thing. So many people make me feel like I’m not worth their time or attention, even my doctor acts as though I am wasting her time coming into her office for help with depression. It is so wonderful to know that there are people out there who can more or less give me a hug and let me know that someday, things will be better. Thank you so much. Words cannot describe the gratitude I want to express to you.
MT writes:
I cut too. It’s so good to feel like someone else is on my side.
Mary writes:
I am writing to let you know I found your site incredibly interesting and easy to navigate. Your web designer is one to keep.
I was surfing the web for information about anorexia (my sister suffers) and sort of got led through the rabbit hole to your site. It was of great interest to me, as I believe I may be a Self Injurer. My SI (if that is indeed what it is) has never progressed to the level of implement-using, but I have torn the skin off my fingers (around the cuticle and the nail) for as long as I can remember. Often there is blood. I usually have at least one Band-Aid on at least one finger at any given time.
I am a recovering cocaine addict and have been clean for seven months. (Yay, me!) I am starting to understand the many ways people use coping mechanisms that lie outside of themselves, i.e., drug abuse, SI, etc. I’ve been able to cease the hardcore skin-ripping for one week, which is the longest I’ve ever gone. I think my recovery with addiction is serving to heal other parts of me, too.
Chrissy writes:
I’ve just got done viewing pictures on your website and reading the many stories of people with deep pain. The marks they inflict upon themselves is an outward expression of what’s going on inside of them. The cuts are the evidence of the loneliness and pain they endure everyday.
I am not a cutter, nor have I ever been. I am a middle-aged woman recovering from a lifetime of depression. I know the feeling of loneliness, the emptiness sand the aloneness. I never thought that anyone would ever understand my pain, nonetheless help me deal, so I bottled it up inside for many years. I am now in college studying mental health because I love people and I want to make a difference, even if it’s only one person. I will have accomplished what I’ve set out to do.
When I looked at the pics of these kids, my eyes filled and ever-flowed a river of tears. My first response was compassion, then I wish I could do something to help.
Please post this poem that I received from one of my favorite instructors. She inspired me and let me know it’s OK to feel what I do.
Thank you and God bless all of you for your diligence and courage to reach out and help others!
Please Hear What I’m Not Saying
Don’t be fooled by me.
Don’t be fooled by the face I wear
for I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
masks that I’m afraid to take off,
and none of them is me.Pretending is an art that’s second nature with me,
but don’t be fooled,
for God’s sake don’t be fooled.
I give you the impression that I’m secure,
that all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well as without,
that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
that the water’s calm and I’m in command
and that I need no one,
but don’t believe me.
My surface may seem smooth but my surface is my mask,
ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness.
But I hide this. I don’t want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed.
That’s why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade,
to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only hope,
and I know it.
That is, if it’s followed by acceptance,
if it’s followed by love.
It’s the only thing that can liberate me from myself,
from my own self-built prison walls,
from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
It’s the only thing that will assure me
of what I can’t assure myself,
that I’m really worth something.
But I don’t tell you this. I don’t dare to, I’m afraid to.
I’m afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance,
will not be followed by love.
I’m afraid you’ll think less of me,
that you’ll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.
I’m afraid that deep-down I’m nothing
and that you will see this and reject me.So I play my game, my desperate pretending game,
with a facade of assurance without
and a trembling child within.
So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks,
and my life becomes a front.
I tell you everything that’s really nothing,
and nothing of what’s everything,
of what’s crying within me.
So when I’m going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I’m saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I’m not saying,
what I’d like to be able to say,
what for survival I need to say,
but what I can’t say.I don’t like hiding.
I don’t like playing superficial phony games.
I want to stop playing them.
I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me
but you’ve got to help me.
You’ve got to hold out your hand
even when that’s the last thing I seem to want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the blank stare of the breathing dead.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time you’re kind, and gentle, and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings—
very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings!With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me,
how you can be a creator—an honest-to-God creator—
of the person that is me
if you choose to.
You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,
you alone can remove my mask,
you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic,
from my lonely prison,
if you choose to.
Please choose to.Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach to me
the blinder I may strike back.
It’s irrational, but despite what the books say about man
often I am irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls
with firm hands but with gentle hands
for a child is very sensitive.Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet.Charles C. Finn
September 1966
Read more about this poem
Arnau writes:
Thank you for this web, it has helped me. Now I know that I am not alone, not crazy. Thank you.
Dezzie writes:
I would just like to say that this site has helped me out a lot. I’m going through this stage right now where I’m proud to say that I’m a cutter, and that I’m not alone. At first it was denial, but now I accept it, and I’m trying to deal with it and understand why others and myself do these things. I’m not proud like my e-mail address says, but I’m learning to deal with it and understanding things more. I’m just glad I found this site, because I realize that there are others that are suffering just the same as I am. Thank you for putting the pictures up also, I feel that by seeing those, others will understand and try to be a little bit more empathetic. Thanks.
Nige writes:
Just like to say that this is a great site, to find out that there are other people who understand why I cut and How I feel. I’m 23 and have been doing it since, well, I think 12. After my grandad died, I didn’t cry and instaed started to cut myself to make myself cry and after that I’ve done it all my life and only now have people found out I do it of after my ex who I was to marry soon, but dumped me cos she could no longer deal with my cuttin and told other’s of how much of a weirdo I am was after I tried to top myself, now I’m on anti-depressants and seeing a doc every week but that does not help me at all just makes me feel like my time is soon up and only a few mates have helped me, but they do not understand why.
Ashley writes:
I know that no one has to go to this website, but being a self-harm help website, I really suggest you take the photo’s off. It’s really dangerous to keep them on. It makes people want to hurt themselves. Not only me, but other people I’ve talked to who go to that website. Being someone who is just getting over cutting, it makes it really hard when I see those photos. It’s addicting to want to come look at them. I am just letting you know.
An anonymous visitor writes:
I’ve hurt myself for as long I can remember. I ran into this web site just by chance when I was looking up coping skills. This web site explains a lot about why I do things I do. I viewed the pictures that are posted on this web site. I just started cutting myself instead of just hitting myself. I’m afraid of looking anything like the pictures. I’ve also been thinking about burning myself… Scary.
Lilith writes:
Seeing your site helped me understand what I was already doing. The minor self-injury I was doing before had stopped working so well, and I was scared becuse I had no way of letting out my frustration and anger. I already knew about suicide though, and before I saw your site I thought that suicide was the only step I could take from where I was. Finding out about self-mutilation from the site, reading the stories, has probably saved me from doing something much worse.
I wouldn’t say the site provoked me to more serious self-harm, rather it helped me understand how to cope and continue, rather than ending my life.
Amy writes:
[I want to say] how much your site has helped me. I self injure and I felt totally alone until I discovered Psyke.org a few months ago. I’m so glad I did because through Psyke.org I’ve met some amazing people that I can talk to about anything and I email them before I cut and in the end I don’t end up cutting. Sometimes I do but I’m trying very hard to break the cycle. I’m trying some of the healthy alternatives that you have listed in the coping section.
Thank you so much for creating Psyke.org! I love it and I appriciate it. I know that it’s helping a ton of people.
Ann writes:
I want to say that this is a very “strong” page. And it may have both positive and negative effects at youngsters and adults that do self injury. My daughter at fourteen did self injury, but it’s not so bad as on the pictures here, and I’m glad that she sees that there is no point of doing that any longer. She quit after she told me what she was up to. I think you all have to tell someone about this self injury, I think it may help.
Steven writes:
Pointless? I for one don’t get it. Sure, just like drugs, it may temporarily blind you from the pain you may be going through at the time, but, just like drugs, it makes everything worse in the long run. Have you people ever stopped and looked at your damn arm and thought about how messed up it is? I’ve talked to some of these people, and some have said that they’ve even choose a knife to their arm over going out and getting laid! Can you spell brainwashed?
If you’re thinking about cutting, I’d say you’re better off without, seriously, just like drugs or smoking.
If you are cutting and like it, then you’ve got problems beyond my understanding.
If you are trying to quit, I wish you good luck. My advice there would be to find something else you enjoy that you can do more, and doesn’t actually hurt.
KT writes:
I was just wondering, do you think it’s possible that Psyke.org has the adverse affect as to what you intended? From where I’m sat it helped having anonymous people to talk to but at the same time it helped me slip into a mentality that justified what I was doing to myself. Maybe I’m just an anomaly but I find that hard to believe. Surely there have to be more people out there who this is also true for. What do you do if this is happening? What if as well as helping us this site is also making it easier for us to slip into this mentality, does the help Psyke.org gives nullify the damage it could do in the wrong hands? A lot of people I’ve met, and I’m sure a lot more who I haven’t, who are on Psyke.org, feel left out and alone, now if they find Psyke.org they suddenly find people they can get along with and have a lot in common with. Don’t you think this might give them another reason to continue self harming? Sorry, I’m probably babbling but it’s something I’ve seriously been thinking about.
Al writes:
My name is Al and I live in Wales in the UK amd I am seventeen years old. I just want to say thanks, in some way you have helped me.
Tourniquet writes:
I just wanted to say this site really is good to help make people feel like they are not alone and such. I’ve been cutting for exactly one year. (Since 7th grade) I’m only 13 and I know I should be happier with my life. However, I’m not. I never will be. I’m counting down the days until summer vacation. When I’ll grab my razor for the last time and make it count. Life is not for me. Wish me luck.
An anonymous visitor writes:
I am a mental health consumer and I urge you not to be so graphic in your details about suicide. When someone is vunerable these words can contribute to any decisions the person may be wanting to make.
Arranz writes:
I told my parents about my past SI. The lies, the shame, it was beginning to be too heavy for me, I was dragging this secret like a prisoner carries his condemnation down the road to Hell. So I wrote them a letter and explained. I didn’t dwell on cutting, it wasn’t the point. But I had to tell them, what I was before SI, what I was in SI and what I’ve become now. They understand now, and they’re happy. Because I now have friends whom I know care for me, and because of Psyke.
I’ve briefly explained about the forum, about the people there and my mum smiled and said she was happy that in the jungle the Web is, some people had the courage and will to build sites like Psyke. So I thank the people who created this site and my mum thanks them too. Both of us are understanding each other better now and truth to be told, it’s on Psyke that people pushed me to tell my parents so I thank them as well.
Jennifer writes:
Hoppas du är medveten om vilken otroligt bra sida det är du har hand om. Psyke.org har betytt jättemycket för mig, på många sätt. Var stolt!
Hurt writes:
Your site does wonders. Thank you.
Anon writes:
It’s good to have websites like this that shed light on the pain that people go through, whilst dealing with their emotions. It may be self inflicted pain but you ask a self harmer if it hurts and a large percent will say there is no pain with the cutting, it’s what’s inside, or the lack or what’s inside, that hurts.
My main reason to submit my ‘comments’ is to express my anger at people in todays society who have nothing but ignorance towards people with mental health problems, or mental health in general. We are still human. The times I have been made to feel ashamed of who I am, are endless. Mental health is an issue that isn’t educated to people enough and I feel it is about time ignorance is abolished and people educate themselves on exactly what mental health is. Self harming is not what ‘crazy’ people do, it is a way of coping. Yes, it is not the most perfect way of coping but it’s the way we cope.
I am one such person who has mental health problems and because I am made to feel ashamed of my illness, I feel I have to write this anonymously.
I am an anorexic who has severe depression and I self harm in order to release the stress I have. I have audible hallucinations and I have a borderline personality. I have made several suicide attempts, and mostly because I try and don’t suceed to be who society perceives as ‘perfect’. So I tried to kill myself. The world is not a perfect place and absolutely nobody is perfect.
So for all you ignorant sheep out there who are’totally depressed because I have no boyfriend and my pants don’t match my shirt’, get your head outta the clouds and start opening your eyes to what’s real, not what’s psycho.
Keep up the good work with the website and to all my fellow self harmers and people with mental health, hang in there and remember you’re not alone.
Rachel writes:
I’m very grateful of your site. It really does help others understand. My mother isn’t lost on the subject now. She said she’s glad I brought her here, it helped her learn a lot. Thank you.
2003
Bill writes:
I just wanted to say that I’m grateful for this website. I’m 21 and have cut myself for a while now. No one where I live understands what I go through, it’s like an unexplainable curse I have to endure on my own. Seeing the personal stories help me in the sense that I finally look at myself in a way I never could, which makes me want to stop. I look at the pictures and realize how I don’t want to look like that (but I do). It’s a motivation to stop. So thank you I guess. I haven’t stopped, but it’s motivation.
AJ writes:
Thank you! Your site helped me stop cutting. I was reading it, trying to figure out why I did it and why I only felt like I was in control of my life when I did it. Then I came to the part on your site where you talk about how you used to cut and how you stopped. You said something like if I was in control then I can stop cutting. That line hit me like a brick wall. After reading that I knew I would be able to quit and how to do it.
Matthew sent me this piece entitled “What is Wrong With Most of These Self Proclaimed SI’ers”. It seemed to fit best here in the feedback section.
Stephanie writes:
I think this web site is great. I’ve never seen anything like this before and I’ve been cutting for five years now. If anyone ever wants to talk, my e-mail is above. I have stopped cutting but that doesn’t mean anything!
Mendy writes:
I’ve never posted anything on your site or anything like that. But I go there all the time! I just want to tell you how great your site is! It’s amazing!
An anonymous visitor writes:
I can’t help but love this site, it encompasses everything about people who SI.
An anonymous visitor writes:
Thank you for this wonderful site. It has been a great help for me.
Charlie writes:
I’ve been a self-harmer since I was 12 and I’m nearly 17 now. I had no idea when I started how bad it could get, and this site has made me feel like I’m no longer alone. I have a huge amount of respect for the people on here who share their pictures, because that takes guts. At the moment I’m trying to stop. The teachers at my school are on my case, but they don’t know how to help me. This site has just made me feel normal and it has given me hope that there is a way out of this, and I have the confidence to go and try to help myself get better. Thank you so much.
An anonymous visitor writes:
I have been a cutter for almost five years now and I would like to say thank-you for this site. I found it helped me to realize that not everyone sees my problems as attention seeking! Thank you!
Tiffany writes:
I just wanted to tell you how much your site has helped me. I know I’m just one person out of the tons of people who e-mail you each day, but I think you’re a wonderful person to devote such time and money to a website for complete strangers.
Peggy writes:
I first want to thank you for the site. I am 44 years old. I stopped cutting one year ago. I have cut and done multiple SI for years, since I was 13. I have only begun to understand the mental twist involved with SI. Your site has helped me to see the “whys” and how I can have something with which to work for. I know that stopping is only the begining. I do not know if I will ever be what I think a “whole person” should be, but I do know that years of pain are slowly going away. I know what an awful lonely life it is to be a person who does SI. I may not do the cutting, but there are so many forms of SI that I still do. I wish sometimes that I would just die and get it over with. Thanks again for having this space here for us.
Deborah writes:
I was released from a hospital a few months ago. I was in the hospital for self injury and suicide attempts. Your website did nothing but promote me to be a more intense injurer. I don’t understand what your site is trying to do — help people or hurt people?
Another thing I would like to say is that the book Crosses, I found this book many years ago and read it. I didn’t understand half of it being so young but it introduced me into a whole lot of pain. This book makes people think cutting is good and right and it will hurt more and more people as you advertise it.
Kiddo writes:
Psyke.org has helped me out a lot because I’ve realized that I’m not just some freak who cuts, I’m one of many who have an illness or whatever you want to call it. This site is amazing.
Deborah writes:
My name is Deborah. I was released from a hospital a few months ago. I was in the hospital for self injury and suicide attempts. Your website did nothing but promote me to be a more intense injurer. I don’t understand what your site is trying to do. Help people or hurt people? Another thing I would like to say is that the book Crosses, I found this book many years ago and read it. I didn’t understand half of it being so young but it indroduced me into a whole lot of pain. This book makes people think cutting is good and right and it will hurt more and more people as you advertise it.
Ashley writes:
I love this site and everything that is included in it. I have been dealing with self mutilation for the past 3 years and it’s just been nothing but up and down emotions of how I tell myself “OK, Ashley you’re going to stop cutting yourself now” and then the next day everything is down the shit hole again. I blame myself for acting the way I do sometimes and it might bring other people down even though I don’t purposely want them to feel the way I do, I enjoy my life for the most part, I know I have bad days just like other people but somedays I just feel like disappearing more than others. I know this website has helped me in a lot of ways dealing with anger, hurt and sadness, I spend as much time as I can on here and I’m glad I have a site like this to go to. Not only because it interests me but also for the fact knowing that maybe other people love this site too as much as I do.
KT writes:
I saw your site and it made me want to throw up. I sent the link to my friend who cut and she got the same feeling. She told me she would never cut again because she started at scratches like someone else on this site and she didn’t want it to go further.
I want to thank-you for making this site and I hope it helps more people than just my friend. It is horrible to know what these people are going through and I hope their lives get better. But for now thanks so much for saving my friend from maybe eventually killing herself. Tomorrow I am showing this to my other cutting friend and I am hoping it will do the same for her!
Thank you so much to the makers of the site and to the people who submitted pictures.
Thanks from a former cutter.
An anonymous visitor writes:
Just wanted to say thanks for this site. It’s helped me not to cut more times than I can count, and it’s helped me feel so much less alone. It’s so great that someone bothered.
Rachael writes:
I am going through the same as many people on this site, but I think you are taking advantage of vulnerable people through this site. People who self harm need to know that it’s ok what they have done in the past but that no-one deserves that to happen to them and there are people out there who can help them, I know… I have found the most amazing therapist who is my angel and who makes me feel safe for the first time in my life.
Kimberly writes:
I just wanted to personally thank you for putting up such a thorough and well-done website on the topic. It’s really helped me to see that I don’t have it that bad, and that I’m not alone at all. The site is extremely helpful to a minor SI-er like me. Thanks.
Linda writes:
I haven’t been on Psyke for a long time. I was there when there were only 60 or so posts on the Self-Injury Forum and I stayed for almost two years. I stayed because it broke my heart to see all the misery. I came because I had a young friend who had been involved in this and I needed help… It was something I had never heard about. I made lots of friends and even felt as if I helped a few.
I came back tonight just to see what all was going on here. Another young friend that knew of my involvement called today because she was trying to help her friend. I told her to come to this website for good, practical information. After looking over the new site I just felt like I should thank you for the good work you have done with this subject. This site is extremely helpful for cutters and friends of cutters. You are to be commended!
Elle writes:
I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am to you for creating and always improving psyke.org. It has truly been a great help to me over the past two or so years. I look back at some of my first posts and realize how much I’ve grown as a person since I first started to really analyze and come to terms with my depression and self-injury. The people I’ve met through Psyke remain some of my truest friends and confidants. Your site and message board have really helped me change my life for the better. So thank you very much. I just wanted to let you know that all your hard work means more to me than I can express in words.
Anna writes:
I have just visited your site and was very impressed by the content. It is so important to raise awareness about mental health issues in an accessible way.
2002
Lisa writes:
I’d just like to say thanks so much for this site. I came across it once, and then I just had to keep coming back, again and again. Because it’s just so awesome. Some of the poetry here (and personal stories, but more the poetry) made me cry. Like I can relate so well to what most people write. So thank you very, very much for keeping this site available to those who need it.
Sierra writes:
I would just like to thank you for this website. It makes me feel like I’m not alone. The stories, pictures and poems are great. It has got me through a lot of hard times in my life.
Louise says:
I would just like to thank you for your very informative website.
I have found it helpful and nonjudgemental, unlike many sites I have found. the pictures part of the website is unusual, and while it has been almost inspirational, when I feel the need to cut, and I am in this website, the warnings have steered me back towards coping methods. The poetry is outstanding, as are the stories. Once again, thank you for this website, it has helped me understand why I do what I do, and how to cope with the feelings, thoughts and everything else surrounding these oft-misunderstood acts.
If anyone would like to get in contact with me to talk about feelings, the acts themselves, or anything else, please feel free. I have been judged enough in my life to know that you should never judge another. Everyone is there to learn from, and you never know what valuable lesson you may miss if you do judge others.
Bloom writes:
[…] thanks for doing what you’re doing. Your site is a shoulder to cry on, very informative, insightfull and resourceful. You’re doing a very good thing for all of us who suffer. You make it less painful, and give us hope.
Sophie writes:
I’d just like to say well done. I am a former self harmer and use this as a way to release my anger. I have never been on anything like this before. It’s just nice to know that I can come here as well as many other upset and pained women and we can talk about our experiences and gain support. Well done. Many congrats!
Cori writes:
I really enjoy this website. I read some of the personal experiences and the poetry, and I can relate so well. I feel like I could have written those things, those are things I’ve been thru or I’ve felt. Thank you for making this page.
She says:
Ok I’ve been meaning to send this for ages but well: Thank you. I don’t think anyone could explain how much this site has meant to me. It’s great to know there are other people in the world, and the fourum seems like a little family. Thank you so much for taking your time to make this site.
Loads and loads and loads and loads of love
She*
Peggi writes:
This is a great website! I plan to pass this site on to others. I did not see the ability to e-mail the site to a friend which might be nice (if I missed it I apologize).
A ‘Tell a Friend’ feature has since been added. wulff
Erryn writes:
I have been cutting for 11 years now and it is nice to have help and so many people that understand. I love this website. Thank you for giving me hope!
Thanks again,
Snowebrit asks:
Do you do this for pleasure, pain, what? Do you slit your arm on a daily basis? Do you not like who you are? Are you trying to threaten people? Do you enjoy scaring people? Do you like facing death? That is what is going to happen.
My answers to these questions are: I do it to feel something, no, no, no, no, no.
2001
Ashley writes:
Thank you so much for posting such an honest website. I am a cutter and I have been trying to stop, or just cut down. It is a very hard thing to do, and I admire you for getting over this addiction. I have looked at many websites, but yours is the only one I find completely honest. Every other website I have looked at is biased. It is really hard to find a decent site about self-harm. Thank you again. PS: Thanks for posting some alternatives to self-harm. Those are helpful.
Jeremiah says:
I have to tell you I have never seen any site I can relate to as well as this one. I like it. I think it’s great and all the pics I can relate to almost perfectly.
K. Mahoney writes:
I am a clinical psychologist specializing in eating disorders, sexual abuse, and self mutilation; I have dedicated much of my life and education to preventing or treating what you show here. Despite your disclaimers you must realize that so many girls will be made ill or may die from seeing and trying what you desribe.
I am asking you and those you communicate with to stop from publishing these websites unless they are strictly therapeutic. If you know you are in hell, do not invite others to join you there.
makiesblade (website) sent me this:
This is not healthy. I am a former cutter, and I am very happy I stopped. I’m scarred for life now and people see me on the street and make judgements at me, they laugh at me and point. Little kids want to know what happened to me, and I just want to let you know that when you do get better, you’re going to be ashamed of these scars, you’re not going to want them on the internet. And looking at this shit isn’t helping you. Reading how to be bulimic, how to hurt yourself, this is shit; don’t do it. Get away from this filth and get back to life, get better. Little children are reading this and thinking it’s okay, and you know what? It’s not okay. You need to take care of yourself, and this is not the way. And I know it’s hard and no one wants to do it, but you have to. Trust me, I know, I know how good it feels when you cut, but you know what else feels good? Helping people, art, dancing, being with friends; so many things. You can email me, I’m here to help, I dont care if I don’t know you, you can talk to me, I’ll be your friend, just put the razor down.
This can’t be it…
Heather writes:
I found your web page to be very interesting. It’s probably very helpful to people. I do write poetry in my spare time and I was also fortunate enough to be published twice. But anyway, Keep up the good work.
Lone Cutter writes:
Hey, I really like your website. It’s pretty cool, because you have a lot of neat info. and pictures. I’ve been a cutter for 3 years now. I cut myself daily throughout everyday. Been hospitalized about 10 times or so. Been on all different kinds of meds. Right now on Risperdal and Prozac. I’ve been really depressed; more so lately. Thinking about suicide again. Thinking about cutting an artery, or cutting really deep. Don’t have many friends, nobody to really talk to. I’m just really lonely, lost, and confused.
Beth writes:
I am relatively new to navigating the internet. I have been plagued by self-injury for many years and have been surfing through various websites and web pages for information, connections, and so on. I felt compelled to write you a note because this site is the best designed and most well-organized site I have visited in a few months of surfing the net. Congratulations. You are doing a fine job. Thank you for a site that is easy to navigate, clear, and concise. Reading the material on these sites is an intense experience, particularly for a self-injurer. The clarity and organization enables me to locate what I seek without a lot of confusion and hassle. I realize that some sites need to have commercial banners and so on for funding purposes. This site is excellent, not just in content, but in the technical aspects, since it makes the information easily accessible to even the most novice of users. Thank you so very much.
2000
Annie writes:
I have to admit I was not sure what to expect when I was told the address for this site. As of today I have 83 days of no cutting. My cuts are deep; I go for stitches. For me, the relief is in the stitches. I have nerve and tendon damage and finally got to the point where my si was killing me and jeopardizing my children. I miss my si so bad. Yes, I am triggered like crazy looking at these pictures. But on the other hand they are a relief in themselves. I am not alone. Reading the words of others who si is one thing. But seeing the proof in black and white is a whole new dimension. Thank you for this site. Maybe someday a picture of my scars can be added.
Unknown Date
Sian writes:
Hi! Just saying well done for a great site, it’s great that for once we have a non-biased resource to know that there are lots of people who SI.
Lynn has this comment:
You have misinformation on your site, concerning SI, this site said, “SI behavior usually begins when a person is a teenager, escalates in a person’s twenties, and disappears by their thirties.”
It very often does not disappear when a person is in their 30’s, it can and does go on much longer, it can and does escalate after the teen years; often in mid life.
Sam has this comment on the article Info Zur Selbstverletzung:
I read this article about “self injury”. I didn’t read the whole article, because I got angry after a few lines. This doctor Ulrich Sachsse from Göttingen doesn’t know anything about self injury! To compare anorexia and self injury; these two things are completely different. And he always speaks of a sixteen year old person; it seems to me as if he thinks only teenagers do this. Okay, might be there are many teenagers who do this, but it is not “the little craziness of the teenagers” that causes self injury, it is often a kind of real madness. Of course there are people who do this to be cool or something else, but the real self injury is not to cut your arms a little (and everybody should see it, because it is cool or to worry about or whatever) it is to brand your whole body or to cut your whole body, because you have nothing to lose anymore, nothing.
Gary writes:
I found this site not long back. The info and pictures have heelped me realise I am not alone. I am thirty six years old and have been self harming for a little over four months. It has helped me cope with my past that I thought I had locked away in the back of my mind. Some days I am fine, some days I don’t know how to cope.
