Why does it feel so relieving to hurt myself?

Sometimes, when you have so many emotions crammed inside of you, it feels good to "let them out", in a way. When you don't know how to cope with your emotions, you often push them out of the way, letting them pile up. And sometimes it can get to be too much, so by hurting yourself, you "release" those emotions. There are much healthier ways to cope and deal with your emotions, but sometimes we don't know how. But that is why there are people out there wanting to help. :)

When hurt, dopamine and endorphins are released in the brain. Those are commonly called "feel good" emotions and they do exactly that - make you feel good. While some people do it for the feeling of control, some for distraction / to make you numb, or to calm you down. Some people also do it to make them feel something besides emotional numbness. But I'm going to guess on what you mean by that is those chemicals released in your brain.

Because you're feeling a different kind of pain. You're trying to feel something different to take your mind off what's going on in your head.

The pain caused by self harm is usually said to numb the pain of depression, grievances, or any other emotional pain or stress. However, there are other coping methods that are safer and healthier than self harm, that can still help you through the tough times. Read more about alternative coping methods in our Self Harm Self Help Guide at http://www.7cups.com/self-harm/

You may feel out of control of you body or life so when you hurt yourself it makes you feel like you are in control.

Hurting yourself releases endorphins that provide a feeling of leaving the body. It feels good to leave your body when you are hurting, and that is why self-harm can easily turn into an addiction.

Its relieaving to hurt yourself because distracting yourself from your fears and pain is more reliving than actually dealing with it, for a little while anyways and then you have to deal with scars, dealing with your pain in a heathly manner is overall better for you than self harm.