Cutting

Definitions

Mutilation The act of damaging seriously by cutting off, or altering an essential part.

Self-mutilation In self mutilation the 'essential part' of the self that is damaged is the skin, which is cut with a knife or razor blade, or scraped with an abrasive material-scissors, bottle cap, etc. Sometimes skin is burned.

Important Information

• The self-mutilator is someone who has found that physical pain can be a cure for emotional pain. It is someone who, for one reason for another, has absolutely no outlet for her emotional pain, and therefore no relief from it. All she has is that short period of time when it is temporarily overpowered, “drowned out,” by the physical pain.
• It is the extreme nature of these external acts of self-harm that causes us to consider them worthy of psychological examination, and urges us to uncover the mental and emotional desperation they suggest.
• It is important to understand that these forms of self-mutilation are not part of group rituals, not just an adolescent trend.
• When the self-mutilator cuts herself she is usually in a trance state, seeking out the pain and blood. Self-mutilators are overtaken by a compulsion to commit these acts, which are not about conscious intent. For the self-mutilator, it is the experience of physical pain-for its calming effect on her more painful psychological state-that is being sought.

Diagnostic Criteria:

In the most severely pathological forms, self-mutilation can be classified using the following diagnostic criteria:

• Recurrent cutting or burning of one's skin.
• A sense of tension present immediately before the act is committed.
• Relaxation, gratification, pleasant feelings, and numbness experienced concomitant with the physical pain.
• A sense of shame and fear of social stigma, causing the individual to attempt to hide scars, blood, or other evidence of the acts of self-harm.

Characteristics of the self-injurer: A person often:

• Feels Helpless
• Feels Powerless
• Feels Fearful
• Feels Lonely
• Feels Different/like an outsider
• Fears being punished
• Fears being deficient/inadequate
• Feels alone/no one to depend on or trust with her emotions
• Suffers from an eating disorder or another form of obsessive behavior/thinking at that same time.
• Is a high achiever in some area
• Is apologetic (to the point where it annoys friends/deters them from hanging out).
• Generally liked by her peer group
• Seeks Isolation (need private space to perform acts of mutilation)

Her feeling of fear and loneliness from having no one to depend on or trust are not formed in the imagination of the self-mutilator, but usually in actual childhood or early adolescent experience. They are all realistic fears, based on real experiences.

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