Adults Self-Injure, Too
I have noticed that a lot of people think that only young adolescent, teenage girls self-injure. It's one of the most inaccurate stereotypes facing self-injurers. And I'm not the only one who feels this way. When I asked current self-injurers who visit my site what they thought the biggest misconception about self-injury was, a majority noted it was the perception that only teenagers self-injure.
As an adult, I can attest that adults self-injure, too - and, in this video blog, I aim to dispel that stereotype!
Adult Self-Injurers
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APA Reference
Stewart, C.
(2012, September 14). Adults Self-Injure, Too, HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, November 2 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/speakingoutaboutselfinjury/2012/09/adults-self-injure-too
Author: Christie Stewart
Thank you for this. I’m almost 30. I first cut nearly 9 years ago. I stopped For a long time. And recently relapsed. As an adult i feel even more shame about my behavior because of the stereotypes. I dont Want anyone to know. It’s not an attention getter. It’s my way of coping. It’s my way of controlling what hurts. I dont Want anyone especially my loved ones to know. But knowing that other adults deal with this helps. Thank you.
Thank you for posting this, I just wrote a comment on one of the other links on healthyplace about being an adult cutter. I started in my mid twenties and just a few weeks ago was finally diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder-in my early 30's. Cutting has such a stigma against it. Perhaps a teen is seen as someone who is acting out or expressing themselves in a much less healthy way but an adult seems to be suspected automatically of suicide. Reaching out to people is tough too. I hope I can find some kind of local group therapy-I am working w/ a therapist right now but meeting other cutters would feel so wonderful. I'd love to know that I am not alone.
Hi, First time poster here. I'm 45 and have been picking my skin for all long as I can remember, since being a young child. I don't know if I'll ever give it up. It does help me soothe. Maybe I'm too far gone. Please get help while you're young and the behavior isn't so ingrained. Peace to all.
Dear Susan, My Excoriation started at 13. Of course I thought I was just a teenager squeezing at a pimple or removing the excess from an oily T ZONE. I'm 55 now and just finished my last 1 yr session. At least it wasn't another 4 yr session like yesterday. I won't be going out in Public, except for food etc for probably 2 weeks now. That's the usual time frame required to heal to some level to get any self confidence back. At the moment I would say my looks would "scare children and make dogs bark". From memory I would say that even early in the piece I knew it wasn't normal, because I attacked with such force for so long, that's not normal. Most girls want to better their looks not the opposite. I was blessed with good looks, good skin but unfortunately no knowledge of what I was entering into at the time. I only discovered the name for my pain approx 10 years ago. I googled " picking at your face all the time" what a relief.
There were only a couple hundred websites that had hits then. Now I guess prob over a million or couple hundred thousand anyway. I clicked on an article "SILENCE IS NOT ALWAYS GOLDEN". Then cried for myself for prob 3 hrs. Have a read if U like, a well known woman also suffered with this and suffered with Abuse. May she rest in peace. I have been associated with a SOCIOPATH for 10 years. Wish I knew what a sociopath was then. Anyway, I gotta go now. Thank you for yr story, it encouraged me to reply. This is first time I have spoke in public. Good Luck Susan x
im releaved to kno im not alone. im new to this website&ive never really dealt with my cutting-dont even kno wer to start. but the info is helpful,thank you all very much.q
I didn't start self-harm until I was 58! It's only been very mild, and it's now almost a year since I last did so, but I still get the urges.
Ann
Thi is perfect. I was 25 when I started to self injure. Didn't seek help until I was 33. When I first started I didn't know what it was. I just started cutting. I don't know what made me think of it. No one told me to get help even though they knew. The cuts were noticable. I didn't get help until I sought help for my bipolar.
Thanks for doing this video.
Michele
You are so right that adult women self-injure as well. At age 46 I began SI by burning not cutting. At the time I had no idea there was a name for this behavior nor that others coped this way also. It took me 8 yrs to deal with my emotional trauma & I have been SI-free for 5 yrs.
I blogged about this not to long ago.
I began to self injure when I was 13 and it's only now, at 23 years old, that the mental health sector is starting to take self harm seriously...but for youth...I've had to deal on my own.
I try not to be spiteful but I went from a youth no one cared about to an adult no one cared about.
Thanks for talking about this.
I am so relieved to watch your video and find this site, it hurts so bad when I get ridiculed by family members and I don't even know why I do it
As always, a very clear and thought out message. I hope this helps bring some more understanding to people