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Home > Articles > Self Mutilation (1)

Self Mutilation (1)

Copyright Lynn Hou

Self-mutilation is often mixed up with failed suicide or masochism. The difference is that self-mutilation is a nonverbal expression of painful emotions and traumas.

People who harm themselves by cutting and burning their skin with sharp objects, biting off their fingertips, banging their heads, and pulling their hair are hardly psycho serial killers. They are ordinary people, usually talented and bright, with troubled backgrounds. Those abnormal behaviors come off very disturbing that it is shunned. But like anorexia and bulimia, self-mutilation is a psychological disorder, an unhealthy form of communication, and a silent coping mechanism for dealing with pain, stress, or control.

Unfortunately, it also can be extremely addictive, since many people cut themselves systematically for years and unable to give it up. It also can be even harder to give up more than alcoholism, drugs, and eating disorders in the wake of new biological research.

It is estimated that over 2 million Americans deliberately cut or burn themselves every year. More than 60% of them are childhood sexual and/or physical abuse survivors. Other possible causes include parental abandonment, social isolation, poor communication, and early expose to domestic violence or incest. There is no quick solution to stop people from cutting themselves, but with long-term therapy and psychiatric medication combined, self-mutilation can be overcome, though not without possible relapses.

One of the misconceptions about self-mutilators is that they play our ideal of deranged lunatics who cannot carry a normal conversation. There is no specific category for cutters in general, since there is no actual type for them. A cutter could be your best friend or the person next door. Traditionally, self-mutilators were assumed to be hysterical women under thirty, but recent research shows the difference in rate of self-injury in men and women is less marked.

Next, an exasperating myth about self-mutilation is that the motivation is to draw attention from the public. This behavior may be a cry for help, but cutting is a private activity. Getting attention from the public self-harming is not an effective way. There are other easier and less painful ways of attracting attention, like taking off your clothes and walking in the middle of the street.

Thirdly, the term mutilation has a negative connotation. It strongly implies that doing it to change the way your body looks, especially as a way to make yourself ugly. But for cutters, the point is not making them disfigured, because they are more concerned about dealing with the situations they're trapped in. Like body piercing and tattooing, scars can reflect one's personal history and background but the latter is scorned with insensitivity generally.

© 2002 Ratatosk

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