I am of the opinion that any sort of self-inflicted harm is a sign that something is not okay, and the person doing it needs to be helped immediately, any way possible. To get to a point that self-mutilation is the only viable option would take a lot of negative experiences and a great deal of inability to deal with them, be it voluntarily or involuntarily.
I have never done it, nor have I understood why someone would feel the need to, but I am fascinated with it and the reasoning (alloted there is some) behind such an action. I understand the desire to do it, to just watch blood pump out of you -- it must be unimaginably hypnotic and thrilling.
This is just a bit of a personal sidebar, but I was told that my father, may he rest in peace, ran a blade across his forearm once and watched the blood pour into and down the drain of a kitchen sink, asking my mother "Who will raise the boy if I am gone?" A few months later, I was born and upon his way back to his family, my father was run over by a car. But regardless.
I am, as I said, fascinated with scars and the idea of having enough courage (or stupidity, as the two are often interchangeable) to take a razor or knife to yourself. I have had the desire to do it, but I have never had the guts. Partially because I understand that it will not really solve anything, and partially because I am too afraid to do so. I dislike pain, I dislike inflicting it upon others, let alone myself... and I know that even if something sucks now, there is a silver lining to it and all things are really positive, even if in disguise. "There is no good or ill but thinking makes it so" is the adage I try very hard to live by. Those that inflict self-harm are incapable of thinking that there is anything beyond the pain they are experiencing at that particular moment, and so the only concern is to rid themselves of that pain.
To some, cutting alleviates the agony they feel and makes them feel alive because they are so damaged and so dead inside. The relief is momentary, however, and sooner rather than later more cutting -- possibly deeper and stronger -- is required. The person that is cutting needs something, anything, to let them know that beyond their pain there is hope. Some "grow out" of it, while others cannot.
It's a shame that for many, as they are called, 'Emo Kids' it's the "thing to do" because they belong to that scene. It's saddening and despicable because there are those that truly suffer from some type of illness that makes them inflict the harm -- something having to do with neuron receptors not firing, I believe, if all my years of Psych 101 are correct.
On the other hand, "scars build character," right? Some people need to go to the edge and almost lose their life before they realize what it is that they have. But again, it is a sad, sad fact that so many have to go to such extremes to "feel alive." What does that say about the emptiness of our world, our society, and ourselves if we've got all these comforts, fascinating technologies and loads of knowledge and yet we've got teens cutting for attention, cutting because they feel no one understands, cutting to escape the abusive father or step-father, cutting because it's "cool"?!
