Why do I feel like I need to hurt myself in order to feel better?

Hurting yourself releases endorphins in your brain that make you feel good and happy and soon you become dependant on that feeling and it is the only thing that can make you happy.

Often times when someone hurts themselves to feel better, it is not really 'feeling better'. It is avoiding the feelings that are causing distress. By hurting yourself, it is likely that the physical pain that is caused lets you temporarily forget about the things that are hurting you emotionally. When you feel like hurting yourself, think about if it is realy going to make you feel better, or just allow you to escape from the negative feelings. You will likely realize that it will just allow you to escape from the feelings temporarily. Your best option is to talk with someone, a friend, family member, or listener here on 7 Cups.

If you go to a doctor and he takes a bit, maybe a bit more of blood, you will feel great. a funny great. Thats because with a bit less blood, your brain produces Dopamine and Serotonine, which makes you happy. With cutting its the same: you loose blood, and you feel better. Well, thats most of the part, the rest is psychology. You think you deserve pain, to make you feel better. Its complex, isnt it? :)

When you hurt your self you release a chemical that make you feel good, so when you inflict pain you will receive the chemical.

When I was in a situation, once, where I purposefully hurt myself, I did it because I had heard it numb the pain that people are feeling on the inside. After I did it, I felt better in one way but wrong in another. I felt wrong because I knew the numb feeling wouldn't last. I knew I needed professional help so that I not only start to feel better but I also am safe from myself.

When you feel hurt you may want to hurt yourself in order to feel like you are in control. I have a hard time letting people hurt me so I hurt myself instead to feel like it was me all along and not them.

Self harm can give a numbing effect similar to drugs and alcohol because of its intense feeling. It easily becomes an unhealthy coping mechanism when painful things come up. Self harm may in the moment make you feel better, but in the end it just makes things worse.

Hurting yourself can be quick way to start feeling "alive". Having depression can block your emotions (you cant be happy, but arent sad either - just neutral all the time) and leaves you often empty. The pain you get from hurting yourself is a way to feel at least anything. Sometimes its also a way to cope with your bottled-up anger. You have the need to let your anger out and use yourself for that, even if the anger isnt against yourself. Another reason can be to express your feelings and watching the blood or bruises gives you some kind of "satisfaction". All in all there are many reasons people hurt themseves. But - of course: It's not the solution. You can stop hurting yourself by finding something else that gets you out of that "trance" you enter, when dealing with extrem emotions. A way to work that out is in therapy, where trained people with a lot experience can help you.

You are suppressing some issues that have hurt you deeply because it might seem overwhelming so you resort to self-harming. But it won't stop until you face your trauma.

the pain that you cause yourself is like a release it lets everything your struggling with come out