Making A Difference...
One Life at a Time

National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
1-800-787-3224 (TTY)
Assistance is available in
170 languages
please make the call...today

Click to enlarge

Self-Mutilation

“People out there must be told about the self-loathing that follows rape and how it’s the greatest breakage in divine law to mutilate themselves, as I have done.”

Tori Amos

Self-mutilation is the deliberate injury of the body or a body part, not with the intent to kill, but as a way of managing emotions that seem too painful for words to express.

Self-Mutilation may include:

Cutting the skin
Burning the skin
Bruising the skin
Scratching the skin until it bleeds or interferes with the natural healing process.

It is not self-injury if the primary intent is sexual gratification, body decoration, a spiritual ritual, or to “fit in.”

The most common reason for self-mutilation is as a means of release from intense emotional pain.

How youth commonly feel before they self-mutilate:

isolated
alienated
depressed
frustrated

Why youth self-mutilate:

desperate form of communication
difficulty expressing their feelings
depression
eating disorder
child abuse (physically and/or sexually)
peer pressure

Self-mutilation is a dangerous response to overwhelming emotions just as substance abuse, over- or under-eating, smoking, gambling and violent behavior may be. People who self-mutilate are generally very critical of themselves and seek physical release as a means of exerting some type of control over their otherwise out-of-control life.

If you or someone you care about is self-mutilating, please get help. Call Crisis Connection Inc., at 1-800-245-4580 or your local neighborhood mental health provider and ask to speak with a counselor right away. There is help available.

For more information please see:

Return to Home