Self harm, not just cutting yourself, other ones

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I still cut every few months and in fourth grade I apparently had trichitillomania or something like that where I pulled out my hair and uhh.. ate it. Most of fourth grade is a blur to me. I guess I blocked it out. That is the most embarassing fact of my life, though.

im a picker didnt know it was common, or a problem, thought it was just a bad habit

one that's not up is thrill seeking, or deliberately doing stupid sh*t

windy days usually make me want to do something stupid. like jumping on a fresh horse and cantering off down the road when you know you could go splat and no-one will see you

I used to do a thing with needles that I have talked about on a thread I started about self-harm/pain as a release. But I haven't done that in a long time. But something I have been into for a long time is tattoos. So far I have 8 tattoos. And some of those tattoos have been expanded and re-worked over the years. I love tattoo art, but I also enjoy the process of getting tattooed. I find it relaxing in an unusual sort of way. It makes me relaxed even though it is painful. But the pain of getting tattooed isn't discomforting for me---it feels good. I know that might sound odd, but that's how it is for me. I have gotten some of my tattoos during stressful times in my life---especially when younger. I am thinking about getting a 9th tattoo next month.

I have a bad case of compulsive skin-picking (dermatillomania). Every time I get a zit, it literally takes weeks to heal because first I pop it, then it scabs, then I pick the scab, pop it if it gets more puss, pick the scab, etc, etc. And it goes on for days. Added to the fact that most of my face breaks out at once, and well... the pattern of self-harm is obvious to anyone who looks at me. I kind of remind myself of a zombie, because I have pale skin and sores everywhere.

Anyway... I never considered it a form of self-harm, because I thought that self-harm only involved cutting yourself when you were in despair. But one day I went on a website for people with dermatillomania and discovered that I related to pretty much everything they described there. I still haven't pinpointed the exact cause of my dermatillomania, but I do know that it started around the time I was 13 and has gotten progressively worse over time. I don't think that my psychiatrist even knows that it's a real condition, because every time he sees me, he just angrily tells me to stop picking at my face, thinking that a stern word will stop me. It won't.

i used to cut my nails too short
and i would get ingrown nails and fixing it is very painful

I've bitten, punched, and scratched myself for as long as I can remember. I'd get overwhelmed, panicked, and caught-off-guard and it would happen with me hardly being aware of it. I think I've got a really high tolerance for physical pain and a low threshold for emotions.

When I was a teenager I started cutting and burning/branding myself. I think I heard about cutting somewhere, maybe on TV or something, and thought, "well, I basically do that anyway...sounds like a good idea." (It wasn't.)

I'm a self-hitter. The victims are my head, my upper arms and sometimes my thighs.
I've also pressed my hands against something till it hurts. Recently I have taken to digging my fingers into my forehead or scratching it raw. I currently have scratch marks in my forehead.

Rage, grief, frustration and emotional pain are my reasons.

It's very important to realize, in this age when behaviors like this are pathologized to extreme degrees, that however harmless your style of self-injury may be (or even if it's not so harmless), almost every psychologist will over-react to it. That means, hide it if at all possible. If you have any control at all, don't do things that are obviously self-injury and don't damage skin that can't be covered by a T-shirt and shorts. It risks you being hospitalized when you don't have to be.

I wish I didn't have to say that; I wish people didn't overreact; but that's the way it is, and it adds to the problem severely, but there's not much I or anyone else can do about it right now other than informing as many people as we can.

Superficial skin damage is NOT the end of the world. Nor are bruises. Even head-banging can be mitigated to the point that it doesn't cause injury. There are solutions to these things even when they do become dangerous, and the best approach is to look at the problem carefully and find those solutions--not overreact and hospitalize the person.

That said, it is possible, with caution, to get outpatient treatment if necessary for self-injury wounds that have become infected, involve broken bones, or require stitches. In some cases, you may be able to lie about how the injury occurred, but not always. The really important thing is to use your best "rational NT" (or "rational autistic") act, explain that you are not suicidal and that you are working with your counselor on dealing with this, and that you would really like to go home with your family (or your cat, etc.), read a good book, get a good night's sleep, and this will be better in the morning.

Of course, if you do need medical treatment, risking hospitalization is necessary; and one shouldn't be too frightened of it--in general, hospital wards are at worst boring, and if you remember to ignore what the staff thinks of you, they can be survivable.

just experienced yet another AHA! moment on this site...

I used to punch myself in the head when i was a little kid, usually after i did or said something stupid, or made my parents mad for some reason that i didn't understand.
I also have a habit of twisting my hair between my fingers, which often results in ripped hair, although I don't deliberately pluck hairs from my head (except the couple dozen white ones!)

The only other thing that I still do (and I only notice it when i am particularly stressed out) is sort of use my tongue to suck on the back of my front teeth. While I was writing my undergraduate thesis it got so bad that I actually had a small blister/sore on my tongue!

Hmm. I hit myself, and I bite the tips of my fingers or my knuckles very hard. But it is just under severe stress.

I used to cut my arms/legs when I went through severe depression.

Now i still find that I can pick at and chew the skin around my fingernails quite badly when I'm stressed, I often don't realise I'm doing it until I look down and see blood (not much blood though). I think it's become more of a nervous habit than self-harming though.

I normally pick at my gums when I'm feeling over anxious about something in particular. Sometimes I get a place in my mouth what I really want to hurt, and I enjoy the throbbing pain when I pick it. Usually it's on the gum right between my 2 front teeth. After I've made it red and painful, I dab a bit of salt on it to make it throb even more, and my eyes don't even water with the pain because I like it.
But I have to start doing this without realising it, to make it so I can enjoy the pain. I can't just suddenly decide to pick at the gum to make myself enjoy it. Does anyone else feel like this?

I pick at my skin.,…….. it’s horrible I have scabs allover my scalp from picking and am now treating them....I also pick at my acne and other scabs/scars.....I really want to stop this

I also punch my legs and/or scratch at my arms when upset/angry. I cut myself but only very occasionally when very upset.......

When I was younger I would bang my head on things when I was upset.


It's probably why I'm so thick headed now, haha

Well I clicked drinking harmful chemicals, because I belive alcohol is a harmful chemical.....and I do drink beer and hard alcohol. I suppose thats not all bad in moderation but I do get carried away at times(with other things as well) caring more about numbing the pain then what it might do to my health.

I do cheek/lip biting, and that wasn't on the list.

I also will pick at scabs, though it's not an "always" thing. I do enjoy scratching mosquito bites, too. It doesn't matter if they are itchy or not. I just want to.