A VERY personal topic

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by ProsonicLive, May 31, 2013.

  1. Webster

    Webster Member

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    I gave some solid advice. You can take what I wrote to the bank. It was delivered sternly, not vindictively.

    The phenomena of cutting amongst young people is a symptom of our nihilistic culture. It's something that can be eradicated, but it won't be when seemingly responsible adults offer nothing but mealy mouthed, hair stroking words.
     
  2. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    As a former cutter I know this is way off base. Alas, in our modern world those with the smallest knowledge often have the biggest opinions.
     
  3. erebh

    erebh Banned Contributor

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    Maybe some kids need their hair stroked now and again...
     
  4. Michael O

    Michael O Member

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    They're prisoners...F-UM.

    Is it true that prisoners don't tell jokes?

    Instead of droning on, when a situation arises and a joke fits, a lifer will just holler a number. And that number is a joke known to all.

    Event happens...Number hollered...The lifers laugh.
     
  5. Myers

    Myers Member

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    But would you say the same to an alcoholic? A drug addict? An anorexic? Those are all self destructive acts that someone could just simply give the same response to. Its obvious to everyone around the person who is drinking themselves to death that they should just stop drinking because that's the simple solution isn't it - stop drinking. Easy right? But obviously its not.

    Personally, I've never cut myself but I do know have a very close friend who did cut herself and I know that its something she didn't want to be doing but something else was taking over. And I also know that if I had simply told her that what she was doing was simply a juvenile act I doubt it would have helped at all or that we'd still be friends.

    I think your advice about exercise and meditation is sound advice. Focussing on new activities and other ways to channel negative thoughts would certainly help but we still have to make an attempt to understand why they do what they do rather than judge.
     
  6. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Cutting is not a "phenomenon" or a "fad." It's a class of compulsive behaviors. You don't address such matters with a hickory switch or a dunce cap.

    Since you appreciate stern, solid advice, know what you are talking about before dispensing insensitive advice, And then don't.

    My apologies to any cutters here who may feel labeled by my definition of cutting.
     
  7. TerraIncognita

    TerraIncognita Aggressively Nice Person Contributor

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    I have a feeling that since Webster said it in the first place they would also say it in those circumstances..


    Which is why I think two out of three of the cutters I knew also have/had eating disorders. Eating disorders also fall under compulsive behaviors and OCD. It's not like a bad song you don't like comes on the radio and you just reach over to change the channel. It's not a simple issue with a simple solution.

    Yes. Thank you. And ditto.
     
  8. Webster

    Webster Member

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    It's interesting to note that no one has asked me if I have experienced any form of 'dis-order.' My experiences have taught me to treat my problems with a level of self-savagery seemingly unknown to likes of my fellows on this thread. I know someone who's suffered from depression her whole life. She's been through the whole sad process of clinical help, and it's not done a damn thing for her. She seems to have no interest in healing herself.

    I'm being an asshole here because if anyone reading this is made to feel a dick for running blades up and down their arm, that's going to have a more precise effect than endless appointments to wage slave mental health workers.

    Cutting, or more accurately scarification, is practised in primitive cultures as a rite of passage. If this is a teenager's aim when he or she commits self-harm, I have no argument. If it's brought about because of our increasingly nihilistic culture, in which kids can watch online beheadings and hardcore porn,while their parents dose them up with ssri's then my approach is to shock them out of their self-destructive headspace, because that's what worked for me. Same goes for OCD. I had it for nearly 5 years, and it eventually got to the point when I had to stop it. And I stopped it in a day. I still have some ticks, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was. Didn't need any treatment.

    You all sound so unsophisticated. I bet you think the second amendment is bullshit.
     
  9. Justin Rocket 2

    Justin Rocket 2 Contributor Contributor

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    When I was younger, I received death threats from my family indirectly for being gay. Basically, I was told that "if anyone in my family is gay, I'll kill them". This was so bad that I told no one as a kid when I was sexually abused by another boy because I was afraid it might reveal my own secret (I was 9 at the time, he was about 15, he chased me down and pinned me to the floor). Finally, I was able to move away from home and I hoped it would give me a chance to have my own life.
    Only, I, then, suffered a spinal injury and am largely (though not entirely) housebound and in chronic pain. When this injury originally happened, I was in tremendous pain and my doctor told me that I'd probably be in pain the rest of my life. I thought he meant the kind of pain I was in then. My life was basically over if that was true. I had no desire to continue living. The pain was too severe. So, I was tempted to cut. I never actually did it, but I did have the compulsion. The spinal pain is not as bad as it was then, though I'm still largely housebound (and my attempt to return to work failed). After my attempt to return to work failed, I thought, once more, that my life was over. I still don't know how I could date. So, I had the compulsion once more. I don't have it now. I think it may have been a way to gain control over my life (as in, I can't control that other pain, but i can control this pain and I'd rather deal with pain I can control than pain I can't).
     
  10. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    I think Webster could have expressed those ideas with a tad more empathy, but I have to say I can see where they come from. My stepdaughter went through a period of cutting her forearms when she was about 15-16 (we didn't notice at first because it was covered by her clothing), and she carved her initial on the outside of her wrist (which has faded but shows when she has a tan--she really regrets doing it). While she undoubtably had a lot of bottled up anger about being abandoned by her mother at the age of 5, she has said herself that it was mainly to be in the "tough" crowd (she began smoking and wore grunge for the same reason), because she was bored at school, and to be seen as rebellious (a bit like getting a tattoo used to be, but in those days there was nowhere she could have got a tattoo)... she has no issues 15 years on, and she stopped when real life became more interesting.
     
  11. Cydramech

    Cydramech Member

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    I used to cut myself, and that's how I lost my job of being a de-facto assistant manager nearly six years ago (Fall of 2007) and no which way I did it was it painful nor effective (then again, I've rarely ever felt much if any pain in my life despite all the stuff I've done). I did it to get my then-recent breakup with my then-fiance out of my mind for whom I was engaged to for six months (no, I still not only think about her but have deep feelings still).
     

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