Self harm

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Is self harm usual in people with asperger's/autism? I've scratched my face until it bled since I was little and have also been cutting myself for the last 5-6 years. I'm fairly sure my self harm has something to do with my asperger's, it's like I cut to deal with stress/painful emotions that I can't deal with in a rational way. I have always been under the impression that self harm is fairly normal in aspies, particulary in as women. Is this true or am I just a freak? Also, am on recoveryourlife (www.recoveryourlife.com) right now and it really doesn't make me feel better.

I think it says on Wiki that 30% of autistics self harm, and the most common method is skin picking. If I'm in anyway incorrect, someone else may nitpick my post...

suvere autistics self harm like this -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D8Y0wM- ... re=related

i self harm simlar to that (altough i didnt watch the whole video, mostly just the start youtube uses all my internet MB data very fast so i dont realy able to use youtube. )

Yes, I've had issues with self-harm. Lots of methods, lots of situations. My theory about it is that it forces my body and mind to go into emergency mode, giving me extra resources to deal with stuff. Of course it isn't a useful coping strategy because long-term emergency mode leads to inevitable burnout.

A lot of NTs seem to think that it's the physical injury involved in self-harm that is the reason why you would want to stop. It's not, though; not unless the physical injury is so severe that you would need emergency medical care for it. The real reason is that, if you're using self-injury to cope with things, it can only last so long before you just run out of emergency reserves. It's ineffective. So you have to learn other ways to deal before you burn out.

'Course, some self-injury is just a stim or a habit or something like that; that's different. The intent there isn't to deliberately trigger your "I've been hurt, I need to kick into overdrive" system. That, you probably have more time to deal with because it's not so likely to escalate; and with that, you just find some other way to fulfill the need that self-injury fills for you, hopefully before you get too impressive a collection of scars.

skin picking is considered self harm?

When I was younger I picked at the skin underneath my nails, but decided when my fingers always hurt to stop. I pick at acne a little, and at my nails (not enough that they hurt).

From what I've read in the couple of years I've been on this forum, self harm seems quite common. I myself have been known to peel off bits of my own skin, bite myself, hit myself in the face, cut and scratch with scissors, pull out my hair, punch myself in the hips and thighs, hit my head on walls and some other stuff. Sometimes it's because of frustration but sometimes I don't even know why I'm doing it. I've also been so excited before that I've started punching myself in the jaw. Positive emotions shouldn't make me do that but they do. I rarely do it in front of people because from a very young age I've learnt that if people think I'm making a scene, the next thing that happens is somebody makes a fuss about it and I get unwanted attention. Even my own mother has no idea how frequently I do it.

I used to but try to avoid it now. It was just a very easy way of pulling myself out of my head, I think autistics are more likely than most to get wrapped up in their own thoughts, and if the thoughts are negative it can spiral rapidly downhill. I still dig my fingernails into my hand though, it's almost like a reflex for anxiety-provoking situations now, not enough to do any harm but it helps me stay calm for some reason.

Is there a clinical reason we do this? I pick at my skin constantly. Or do any of you know why you do it?

I guess it's a sensory thing. We're often over-sensitive to physical sensations, like touch on the skin, and naturally that leads to scratching and picking...

I think there are multiple reasons, partially dependent on the type of self harm.

For picking at skin, the sensory thing makes sense. I can't cope with not scratching itches, and then part of my skin having been scratched means the other part needs to be...

My boyfriend is someone who punches himself in the head during meltdowns. He explains it as needing to get stuff out and that being the only way that gets stuff out at all.

I don't think I do anything further than digging fingernails into skin, but that gives me controllable pain. Pain I can control makes it easier to cope with pain I can't control.

I have or have had some behaviors that may be misinterpeted as self-harm, but I've never done anything to intentionally harm myself, or rather, I didn't peform the action because of the pain or sensation.

When I was 12, my parents took me to a local mental health facility because they found out I had cut myself a couple of times. I told them I cut myself because I was angry, because that's what I'd heard other people say who harmed themselves. Apparently, though, that made people think I wanted to kill myself. The real reason was that I had cut myself by mistake with a steak knife one day, and I became fascinated by the pattern in which the blood came to the surface. Since the knife was serrated, the blood came to the surface in little individual bubbles, which created an interesting pattern. I then cut myself (non-vitally, on the top of my arm) to see the pattern again.

I also used to stab the tip of refillable pencils into my arm, because I liked the little puncture holes it would make. I haven't done anything or this sort since middle school.

The other thing I sometimes do is hit myself in the head or hips or other bony areas if they happen to have an itch. On softer parts of my body, I'll scratch an itch, but hitting myself with the heel of my palm is more satisfying if I have an itch on my head, etc. To an observer, I'm sure it looks like I'm just hitting myself for the heck of it.

The other thing I do is bite, chew or pick at the skin around my nails. My cuticles are red and inflamed, and sometimes bleed. I'll stop when it hurts, though, so again, it's not self-harm for the sake of hurting myself.

I know about self-harm like head-banging to deal with (sensory) overload and clearing the mind to gain some space to think about what's going on.

I am not sure if that is the same thing as what's commonly understood to be cutting. I got the impression that there are certain differences.

Anyway, a strong stimulus of whatever kind creates a sensation that can be more easily focussed on. Doesn't just work for autistic people.

And if the ability to think a thought (without getting interrupted) is back, then awareness of the situation around and control (of mind and the rest of the body) can come back to.

Normal non-harming stereotypes usually create far weaker stimuli while a stereotype that actually causes injury and pain creates a far stronger stimulus.



Hey, that reminds me: they showed that principle on House. One episode way back when House didn't have his drugs, he suddenly hurt himself to temporarily shut out his other pain, then explained to the puzzled spectators that one strong stimulus can temporarily shut out a weaker stimulus. That was basically it.

When I was a little girl I had a nervous habit of picking the skin under my finger nails. I'd also pick at my lips as a child.

When I was in middle school, I'd hit a hammer on my arms because I'd try and break my arms so I'd get out of gym class and music class, I didn't work up the courage to but I ended up with bruises that looked like fingerprints which my mum noticed and got suspicious of.

I started cutting myself when I was 17 years old. It was on and off after that. I haven't cut myself in a long time, when I did it was my wrists and my thighs. I did it as a combination of punishing myself and just to feel someting since I found it hard to express my emotions. It also took away the emotional pain I felt inside for a little while.

I constantly pick my eyebrow hair and at skin on my face. It's definitely a nervous habit.

I skin pick, but for me it's not like self-harm in the usual sense. I'm not trying to get any sort of release and it doesn't make me feel good to do it. I see minor imperfections which I'm compelled to sort out and I go too far. I'm not intentionally trying to harm myself and I regret it each time. There have been other threads on this topic and I do believe skin picking is quite common amongst WP members.

I think there is a bit of a confusion until now in this topic between habits or such behaviours involving the body, possibly uncomfortable or somewhat painful, and real self-injury. They are distinct phenomena.

I have had several periods of self-injury. It was mostly cutting, to help with anxiety.

I don't think there should be a distinction between them. I think that it's harmful that self-harm is pathologized at all, and people who self harm should be able to have a choice whether or not they want to talk about it to a professional, let alone get a psychiatric label.