Why do people self-harm?

Very often, people find that physical pain can override the strong debilitating mental and emotional pain they are feeling. Anything that takes their mind off their problems is something they are willing to do - self harm is no exception.

To relieve themselves from stressful or depressing situations. People often use self-harm as a way to escape.

The reasons differ from person to person, but it all stems down to something missing in their life. Attention, love, companionship, stability, etc.

I think because there are times where physical pain seems far less than the mental pain you are feeling. Also sometimes it seems like the only way to feel anything at all. Another reason is it can be a way for people to realize and notice what your are experiencing.

In my opinion, people "self-harm" to express deep feeling or to distract themselves from those deep feelings. Those feelings are often based on beliefs that have been embedded as a result of negative life experiences. People self-harm because it's the only way they know to get relief from their pain and the only way they know how to feel calm.

Self-harm can be really hard to understand. It involves hurting our own bodies in order to feel relief from our problems. It distracts us by making us focus on the physical pain instead of on our emotional pain. Self-harming can become addicting, causing a cycle of pain and relief that is very hard to break. However, self-harm is never a healthy way to cope with our feelings. It can evolve into worse ways of harming. Since this is only a temporary relief, the best solution is finding healthier ways to cope that do not involve causing harm to our own bodies.

I self-harmed for the better part of 3 years, and to this day I cannot say when life gets tough it doesn't still cross my mind. I wish I could tell you why I did it, but I honestly don't know. I have asked myself that for years, and I haven't come out with a good reason. I doubt that helps, since it didn't answer your question. But not everyone knows why.... sometimes the reason isn't meant to be known.

A lot of people with depression stop feeling anything feeling anything is a relief so they decide to feel pain, people see it as a weakness or a stupid thing to do but in reality they just want to feel something

Self harm can be a way to release unresolved emotions, or because we feel like we aren't having emotions at all and want to feel something. It can be a way to punish yourself, or just a way to cope. It is maladaptive and unhealthy but in a crisis situation, it is a way to keep going and is sometimes necessary to the person. Because it is used as a coping mechanism it can also be very addictive so the person involved needs to be emotionally ready to deal with the reasons behind their self harm and able to find a more positive alternative for themselves.

In my case (when i used to do it), i did it to calm myself. Every time i got very bad breakdowns at night, i hurt myself with a blade.