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Why is cutting so cathartic?

Profile: Anonymous
Anonymous on Feb 22, 2015
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Biologically speaking, it's because your body releases a flood of endorphins to combat the injury. It's your body's natural painkillers meant to stop your mind from panicking at the injury and more easily go into fight or flight mode. But the feeling is only temporary, those chemicals will stop when your brain perceives the threat to be over and that heightened cathartic state will return to normal. Cutting is a temporary emotional distraction but the physical scars it leaves are very much real and very permanent
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Profile: CasListens
CasListens on Apr 25, 2015
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Psychologically, it releases endorphins to your brain. Emotionally, it allows you to focus on a physical pain, which minimizes the mental pain.
Profile: Kimberly42
Kimberly42 on Apr 21, 2015
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It is a real, vivid, tangible representation of a pain that is hidden. The pain in cutting itself can validate one's own inner pain although sometimes people use it to 'punish' themselves for a variety of reasons-typically, and ironically for their own feelings. The cuts themselves are, again typically hidden, and if pleasurable viewed by the person cutting as a badge of.....honor. "My pain is real. I have suffered." The act itself can release pent up negative energy and can satisfy an urge. People cut for different reasons. However, they all want their pain to be valid.
Profile: Anonymous
Anonymous on Feb 22, 2015
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because most cutting it's in a panic in a moment that the person feel in control and having control of the blade gives the individual something to let the person feel in charge of.
Profile: Clemthedarling
Clemthedarling on May 30, 2015
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In my personal experience cutting at some point was metaphoric to cut out the emotional pain I was feeling, it was also to help me feel something due to certain medication causing my body to feel numb. It never alleviated the actual problem but was momentary relief.
Profile: Anonymous
Anonymous on Aug 30, 2015
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cutting is so cathartic because not everyone knows what its like to be in so much pain that you need to hut your self.
Profile: CecilyV
CecilyV on May 23, 2016
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It allows the affected person to feel a noticeable sensation they otherwise feel like they lack or require/need.
Profile: EmmaJosephine
EmmaJosephine on Nov 8, 2016
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Because the act of cutting helps express emotions you are otherwise unable to express. The pain helps you feel something other than the emotional distress you are experiencing, but in the long run, this will only have a negative effect. This cathartic feeling can be replaced with things that do not harm your well-being. For example; talking to someone.
Profile: Anonymous
Anonymous on Sep 28, 2015
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Cutting works as a negative coping method. That means that it is something that can genuinely help you cope with something difficult in the short term, but that it has negative effects on your life on the whole.
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