How do you injure yourself?

Like I said, picking my lips, my cuticles, any cuts or scrapes I may have gotten. When I was 14 or 15, I cut myself; I used to carve things on the side of my arm. It was never very deep though. I never had the guts to do it so it would scar. I also used to "slit" my wrists. The reason that this is in quotes is because I never wanted to kill myself; I only wanted people to think I tried so they would give me attention. This rarely worked. no one really cared. [female, age 23, 15 years SIB, 1 yr. of college]

Run my fingers across my face/skin, feeling for bumps, roughness, imperfections to smooth out by scraping, picking at the skin/place with my fingernails. At home, I go to the bathroom mirror and use tweezers to pull at scabs, remove them. [female, age 35, 23 years SIB, AA Telecommunications]

I slam my hands/arms against something cement with corners until i hear something crack and I am convinced I've broken a bone. These sessions sometimes take 3-5 hours. I have never failed to break a bone. [female, age 22, 9 years of SIB, B.A. degree]

[With] cuts, mostly on my feet, especially my ankle, because it's hard against the bone and I don't have to work terribly hard. It's on my ankle, so it's not too hard to hide. [male, minor, academic track in high school]

Razor blades. I tried Swiss Army Knives at first, but they were too much pain for too little blood, if you know what I mean....I just pick a spot, remove any clothing over it, and slice away....It hurts like a cast-iron bitch, to be perfectly frank. [male, 17, 2 years of SIB, academic track in high school]

I pull my hair until the point becomes obvious... the roots that are red..vs black..are brittle..not pliant and that is what I am searching for...as the red tip sometimes have little feelers growing from the bulb..and there is a definite glowing throb deep inside the area the root just left. [female, 30s, HS education]

I hit concrete walls until my hands are black and blue, and so swollen that I cannot write or do anything with them. But it's a good feeling, the pain, because I focus on that, and not the pain in my heart... all of the problems that I can never get worked out go away, even if just until the pain in my hands wears off. [?]

Once I burned myself with my curling iron. Another time I cut lines down my face that looked like tears and a couple of times when I didn't have a razor I stabbed myself with a very sharp pencil. [female, 20, 7 years of SIB, college junior]

I usually burn myself by heating the metal of a lighter and placing it against my skin. I used to cut myself but it is very addicting so I have promised myself I won't cut myself anymore. [female, 27, 9 years of SIB, college senior]

Beatings with fists, belts, wire hangers to bruising and welting. Head banging or hitting. [?]

Mostly I hit myself with a wooden spoon or stick for a long time, usually a number of times, like I will think/say 100 hits. I have burned myself and used electricity to shock myself. [male, 31, 19 years of SIB, B.S.]

By placing caustic chemicals on my skin, then closing my eyes and seeing how long I can stand it. [female, 32, 3 yrs SIB, B.S.]

Knitting Iron inside belly (navel or other). Scalpel (opened navel and took out bowels, a bit). Air inside the belly with home made trocar. Screwdrivers and other into and through the abdomen. Lot of other small injure on the abdomen. To hide S-I is sometimes quite hard, but I have been quite lucky till now. Normally I prepare some emergency escape (like a larger pseudo accidental wound). [male, age 35, 25 years SIB]

I really loved punching in glass, I lived in a house with four other girls and every time I would get angry I would punch a window. I was evicted from so many places I finally had to leave the community. I punched walls, too, until I had black and blue hands. I was diagnosed with manic-depression/BPD. All this started after I was raped in the military. I'm not sure if my behavior resulted from that or my dysfunctional family. I know my story isn't as awful as the others [but] I kind of know where they are a little, and the pain they're going through: will this ever end or is it a way to feel better because constant crisis was the way we grew up? [female, age 23, 2 years SIB, some college]

I like to get blunt objects, like tweezers, and use them to dig into my skin. I also use steel wool to scrape off large areas of skin at a time. I like to experiment with different ways, but I usually come back to steel wool. Sure [I feel pain], but that's the whole point. [female, age 19, 9 years SIB, college freshman]

I use a needle. I don't have access to razor blades or anything like that, so I jam the needle down as far as I can, and then move it back and forth until I have a long cut on my finger. I repeat this until I've slashed up both my hands. I almost want someone to notice, to ask me what happened, but I'm so much of a loner that no one's ever even noticed. I wonder if people DID notice, if they would care. [female, age 19, 8 years SIB, college freshman]

I cut with a craft knife. I tie off my right arm as if I was shooting up and wait for the veins to come up and then cut with a fresh blade, the snap-off type of craft knife always around the same place...the blood wells up and I love it so...then I lick the blood, so good. Usually 4 or five cuts...I just love everything about it, the feel of the blade the blood the colour the taste, even the sound of the edge going in. I have also done a lot of picking scabs to stop them healing. The scars endure. I love scars. [female, age 28, 14 years SIB, master's degree]

I have not injured myself in close to two years yet the life that I must lead in an effort to not cut myself is hellish to say the very least. My therapist who I've seen for almost three years put the limit on me; if I cut then she won't see me so that is really the only reason why I hold back. I used to cut with scissors, knives or scratch myself with my fingernails. [female, age 19]

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