why does cutting make me feel better but then bad afterwards?

In the moment, cutting gives people this high feeling, sort of like an adrenaline boost. You may want to do it more and more, but once you stop, your logics and morals take over, making you feel bad.

When it comes to sensing physical and emotional pain, our brains use the same two areas: the anterior insula, a small patch of neural real estate that’s part of the cerebral cortex behind each ear, and the anterior cingulate cortex, a hook-shaped piece of brain tissue towards the front of the brain. These are the areas in the brain that process pain, regardless of whether we’ve felt the sting of rejection or the sting of a bee. Pain relievers also act on these two areas, regardless of whether someone is experiencing emotional or physical pain. A 2010 study in Psychological Science revealed that the pain relievers such as Tylenol or paracetamol (acetaminophen) helped to relieve the distress associated with social rejection and also decreased activity in the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. This doesn’t mean that Tylenol is the next Prozac, but it does show just how intertwined emotional and physical pain are in the brain. The problem is that the embarrassment and guilt of cutting, the knowledge that these marks would become permanently tattooed into my skin, and the fears that someone would discover what i was doing, meant that any relief was short-lived. All too soon, I was feeling worse than before, leaving me vulnerable to repeat episodes of emotional pain, followed by even more cutting.

Self harm is a coping method, though it is considered a negative one. Negative coping methods have a hurtful impact on oneself or others around them. In this case, cutting has a negative effect on the self-harmer and also the people around them. When the human body experiences pain, it releases its own pain killers, called endorphins. Endorphins also dictate levels of happiness, or that “feel good feeling” that one experiences after cutting themselves. The body rushes endorphins to the pain center in an attempt to reduce pain, so a sort of euphoria can often take place following self harm. However, more often than not, people who self harm can feel very guilty or bad afterwards. They begin thinking about their actions, those actions’ consequences, and all of the bad things that come with self harm. In general, it’s important to find coping methods that make you feel better and good afterwards, not feel better and then bad afterwards, as we often find is the case with cutting. I hope this helped!

The adrenaline released when you cut will make you temporarily happy, but once this wears of you realise the reality of the situation and might feel guilty for what you have done

For me, It's because, in the moment, it seems like it will make me feel so much better, sort of like a placebo. Later, it makes me feel paranoid that someone's going to catch me and be disappointed, so It doesn't end well.

It's a really temporary thing, you feel like you forget everything that is wrong in your life and it makes you feel good for a while but then your problems came back.

Your body releases endorphins (feel good hormones) but the effects cuttthas soon wears of this is how it becomes addictive

Cutting is a way to release or distract yourself from negative feelings. It's just like how meditating or taking a walk does the same thing, only those are safer alternatives. That's why it can become so addicting. It feels good during, but it might be likely that you feel guilty or the "good" effect of cutting wears out afterward and you're back to how you feel before you self-harmed in the first place.

Because it's an initial release of endorphins. You're mind focuses solely on one thing so it seems 'relaxing'. Unfortunately afterwards you start to feel ashamed and useless because you've just done something that you know is negative.

Cutting and other forms of self harm are coping mechanisms for some people. They are very harmful! Why you might feel "better" whilst doing it is because it my take your mind away from what you're trying to escape from. But that is only temporary. You may feel bad afterwards because you realise it hasn't solved or helped with your problems and worries, AND it has created new ones as well. Self harming never leads to feeling better in the long run and finding healthy and harmless coping mechanisms is much much more beneficial.