Why does my girlfriend cut herself?

There are a lot of reasons people self harm. It is different to each person and even a different reason each time they do it. Discussion is the best way to find out but you have to know your partner is ready to talk about it or your good intentions could come across wrong.

Sometimes people self-harm as a coping mechanism when a crisis or something emotionally traumatic happens in their life. Usually, it is a pattern because endorphins are released when she feels the physical pain, and it helps, temporarily, relieve her emotional pain.

The reasons for self-harming are always different. Medically speaking the brain deals with pain in order of importance. It deals with the most severe pain and tends to ignore the rest. That´s why psychological pain can be avoided when physical pain is caused. Most people who cut themselves don´t know how to handle pain better. It may have nothing to do with you but in any case you donpt have to feel guilty about it. The best way to know how he feels is to ask her. This may help her to know you care and try to understand her.

She might be going through a tough time. A lot of people turn to self harming as a way to deal with stuff in their life (which isn't a good thing). From my own experience and some friends' experience, I can tell you that self harming feels like your internal problems (depression, anxiety, somebody may have passed, bad relationships etc.) are being expressed in a way. It feels like they somehow gain importance and become valid since we spend a lot of time penting up emotions and trying to put on a happy face for other people. Since your problems are qute internal we try to make them visible in some way, thus through self harm. But it isn't to attract attention, in fact many of us put in a lot of effort to hide it!!! Though I might want to say that this is just from my experience and a couple of my friends'. We do not represent everyone that self harms. The pain originating from harming myself made me feel better in a way that it stirred my negative thoughts from focus. It was a good distraction. A lot of people also say that they felt a lot stronger and more confident after they harmed themselves, including me. Self harm is not a dismissive thing. It is really addictive even from cutting yourself once. Even if those are small cuts or burns on your skin, it can grow to very large scales. So, it is NOT A THING TO IGNORE. I wish the best for your girlfriend :)

Self harm is a coping mechanism for negative feelings, albeit a very bad coping mechanism. People self harm for many reasons, these can range from feeling a sense of release from doing it, replacing mental pain with physical, a way to ground oneself when panicked or because a person feels they deserve to be hurt.

People self harm for many reasons, but one of the most important things to keep in mind when somebody that you love is self harming is that it is NOT your fault if somebody else makes that decision. The best way to find out why she's doing this would probably be to delicately ask her. Don't force her to say anything she's uncomfortable with, but maybe offering a listening ear could be helpful to you both. :)

That can be a very open question, it is that she is suffering from something where pain can either remind herself she is alive, or she think she deserves it, or she may even feel insecure about herself. Thats a question you canneed to ask her to get specific.

Because she is trying to distract herself from the problems she is facing inside. She doesn't want to experience the pain she is feeling inside so she distracts herself with other physical pain.

She may be feeling emotions and unable to deal with those emotions in an appropriate manner. Hurting herself might be her way of punishing herself

There are many reasons for self harm. Insecurity and self doubt, anxiety or depression. People often have trouble understanding and dealing with their own emotions and this can lead to taking it out on themselves rather than the people close to them. It can be scary watching someone you love struggle with their mental health and hurt themselves. The best you can do in the situation is to give absolute reassurance that they are a valuable, important person and encourage them to seek help so they can manage their emotions better and learn to let go in other, more positive ways.