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You don’t have to stay stuck in the vicious circle of self-mutilation.
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If you’ve read any of my last couple of blogs about cutting, you know cutting is very difficult to talk about. That’s why so few people do. But you and I have talked about many things with my blogs and on my radio show. And there’s no reason to pretend—the fact is that cutting is not only popular, but is also destroying many lives. Hopefully that life is not yours. But if it is, help can be on the way. You don’t have to stay stuck in the vicious circle of self-mutilation.
If you’re a cutter, you might think it’s helping you feel better about the deep emotional pain you feel. But the truth is: cutting is a counterfeit helper. It promises relief from the hurt you’re feeling, but it only ends up making the heartache even worse. If your thumb hurts, it doesn’t make sense to cut off your foot. In the same way, making yourself bleed is no way to take care of your very real emotional and spiritual needs. You cutting yourself merely covers over the deeper emotional pain you’re feeling. But like every other addiction, it’s far too much medicine for the sickness, and will come back to haunt you. Nonetheless, you or someone you know cuts for the benefits you get from it. In fact, as someone once said, for every thrill…there is a chill. So let’s not deny, with cutting there is some kind of a thrill.
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For every thrill…there is a chill. So let’s not deny, with cutting there is some kind of a thrill.
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So...what happens to your body when you cut?
You Trigger Your Body’s Chemistry
The body naturally produces a chemical compound called endorphins. Endorphins are released to help the body deal with pain and stress. In fact, endorphins cause an actual high designed to cover over real physical pain. And cutting causes real physical pain. You might have heard of “runners high”? This is simply the release of endorphins into the bloodstream when someone puts their body through something extremely physically challenging. This high, or euphoria, is extremely addictive. Much of the same thing happens when you cut. Your brain is flooded with endorphins, which gives you a rush, and a sense of calmness and relief that makes you feel like everything is ok. Some cutters claim the high can last up to 90 minutes…but what happens when that high wears off?
Sarah S. understands this chemical dependency, after being addicted to cutting for six years. “Your body has its own pain management using hormones called endorphins. Endorphins manage physical pain, as well as emotional. When someone cuts, endorphins are released and helps [cover up] the emotional and physical pain. It will make you feel better for a few minutes and then you will crash again. Eventually your body will build a tolerance to it and you will have to cut deeper and/or more frequently and more cuts at one time to get the same effect as before.”
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Your brain is flooded with endorphins, which gives you a rush, and a sense of calmness and relief that makes you feel like everything is ok.
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So in the end, cutting is rather simple to explain. It’s someone like you or me, who uses self-inflicted pain to get a high, in order to self-medicate our pain with a temporary feel good. The problem is the feel good quickly can turn to a feel bad, or worse, to an addiction.
Megan says she got addicted to the physical high of cutting as an early teen. “I started cutting in junior high because a girl who was cooler than me was doing it. I kept on doing it because it helped with my pain that I was having from school or my family, or later from my eating disorder. I’m 20 years old and I realize now that I cut for a bit of a high, but I don’t have that urge to feel that high anymore.”
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The problem is thefeel good quickly can turn to a feel bad, or worse, to an addiction.
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Megan doesn’t feel the urge to get the cutter’s high anymore. How did she stop? One thing I know for sure, she came face to face with the consequences of cutting. And that’s what we’re going to do next week.
So please, if you have overcome the addiction of cutting, let me know how you had the moment of clarity that changed everything for you when it comes to cutting.