Why People Turn to Cutting

Studies have recently concluded that self-injurers, when faced with strong emotions or overwhelming situations, tend to choose to harm themselves because it brings them a rapid sense of release from tension and anxiety. The person seeks to find immediate relief from their emotional pain by exposing themselves to external pain. The self-injurer may feel a release from the emotional agony, and even if he/she feels guilty or angry afterward, it won’t be an oppressive, pushing, and demanding tension-filled feeling that it was before.

Malon and Berardi (1987) believe that the person struggling with self-injury “is at high risk to injure but not kill himself or herself… but produce tension relief.” They go on to say that those at risk are those with an inability to cope with increased psychological/physiological tension in a healthy manner, such as feelings of depression, rejection, self-hatred, guilt, and being a member of a dysfunctional family, to name a few.

Why is it so Addictive?

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