This is one of many kinds of self-harm where you hurt your own body on purpose. A sharp object is used to cut the skin, usually in very careful, controlled ways (for example, always making sure the cuts can be hidden under a t-shirt). It is not a suicidal action (when someone actually wants to kill themselves). When other people know about the cutting, they might say the person just “wants attention”. (Is there anything wrong with that, anyway?) But what is happening is usually more complicated. Someone may be cutting themselves to stop themselves from doing worse, more harmful things. We may be feeling so bad on the inside that it feels sort of better to make the outside hurt as badly so that inside and outside fit together. Many people really want to stop cutting or hurting themselves in other ways, but find it very hard to stop.

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