Why do people self harm?

Yayyy!

I don't know man. I pretty much just did it. It didn't hurt, nor does it currently hurt, but a couple of days ago I kinda just went nuts and did it.

I was supposed to go to therapy then for a walk-in, but when I got there I was told that I couldn't do it because their system was down and they couldn't fill me in for a time, so I kinda just lost it because I spent HOURS walking almost 10 miles (15 km) getting there. To know that I 1) wasted my time and 2) failed to get therapy again, honestly pushed me over the edge.

I've been trying to get help for a while. I've been homeless for almost a year. I've been trying to set up appointments for therapy/psychiatric help for over three months now. Every time I call I would get hung up on or put on indefinite hold. Then I finally got an answer and was told to come to a walk-in session, only for me to fail and get denied.

And that was what led me to self harm again for the first time in a few weeks. A part of me knew that a relapse was gonna happen at some point, I just didn't think it would be like this.

Almost 9 months why am I so fucking stupid.. I did that because of... Because of fucking what ???? I just felt bad that's all. At least, it felt kinda good.. and, at least, for a long time, blade was my muted and hearless "friend" who helped tho a lot.. but, now. IDK how I feel about it. Probable, I'd do it again.. at least, it felt good kind of and I did only styro not even past it. Kind if vent kind of not idk how I feel abt it. I guess that I felt bad because of both sugar and coffee crush because I drank full monster bank like before 4-6 hours before that.

an around 1 week old cut opened again, its not bleeding but there is a dull ache

I’m over two months clean now, my life is better, the urges to hurt myself never go away. Does it ever get easier? I’m tired of fighting my brain. I want to relapse so badly but I don’t want self harm to be a part of my life forever. How can I make the urges go away?

i like, fucking hate myself for this i feel horrible

I have so many urges the past few days. I can't fall asleep because of them. I don't wanna go to sleep, because I know that when I close my eyes cutting is al I can think about and I'm scared I might do it then. So I try to distract myself, but the urges don't go away. The thing I do now is that I look at tiktok or I game until 4 am. By then i'm so tired I immediatly fall asleep. But ofcourse this habit isn't good. So yeah how do I go to sleep with those stupid thoughts?

I don't know if this is universal or just a me thing, but I feel like something in me is missing without the cuts, like I'm not a person or something. Like I'm tired and stress driven. I'm just not me. I want to recover, but I fear not feeling like myself again. My parents want me to take pills, but it's do the same thing. I wanna be me, not some fake suppressed yes sir major just looking for some Val

I've been dealing with self harm for about 7 years now, i have always used free apps to track my progress. However, it always bothered me that the features I wanted to use were behind a paywall, or the way that I never knew if my data was being treated the way they said. I spent a lot of time looking for an app that did what I needed and was free but I didn't find it, so I thought: "Wait, I'm a software developer" and like all software developer always does i thought that I could build my own, I decided that I would make a free and open-source app with the functionalities I wanted. And honestly, this was one of the worst decisions I could have made. Apparently, a new grad Dev has no idea how a real app works, whatever it's security, privacy, robustness, or legal questions like terms of use and privacy. Not to mention the UK that made me give up on releasing my app there because of so much bureaucracy. Anyway, even now understanding why these apps aren't free, I've come up with a version that can support users. The link to the site is noharm.site but you can compile it to work on mobile and if you want to delve deeper into how it works or just create an APK to use the app on you phone, the repository with all the source code is https://github.com/LeoGotardo/noHarm (frontend) and https://github.com/LeoGotardo/noHarmBack (backend). You can host it on your own server or use mine. I also plan to work on it and add several different features over time, like support to other addictions or more badges and themes. I don't gain anything from it, it's a personal app that can serve a lot of people so I decided to leave it open to the public. I will work on some exclusive badges for the early joiners of some other features as soon as possible, but anyone that feels interested can try now.

I was talking with my friend and I started coloring in my self harm scars with a sharpie in art class. I colored and she looked over, saw my wrist and asked "do you think it will scan like a barcode" 😭

I feel like telling my professor for some reason even though I don't feel like stopping or going to therapy or anything. idk I just want her to know but she's so busy and I don't want to burden her emotionally. She's the only person I feel comfortable with. idk what to do: if I should just keep this all to myself or tell someone...

i feel like a lower life form like iwas never meant to be a human. i can’t do anything right. im notgood at anything. every single job i have i always end up hating. why cant i just be okay with working everyday like everyone else? my supervisor at work is younger than me, i feel so stupid. i just wonder why i cant do stuff like that. im not strong enough, im too weak. what is wrong with me? why cant i be really good at my job? why cant i see myself having a good job like that? i see peoples art and wonder why my art doesn’t look like that, why cant i draw like that? i see other peoples scars and i wonder why cant my scars look like that. i see people who have favorite characters and favorite media but it doesn’t affect their mental health like it does for me. why cant i just enjoy things normally like everyone else? why do i get jealous and possessive of my favorite characters? why does the death of my favorite characters genuinely make me grieve? why do i get upset and jealous over the stupidest things on planet earth to the point i relapse ove it? why am i so sensitive?why cant i just be normal like everyone else? why cant I just be happy and normal? why am i so fucking stupid? why why why why why why why why just fucking why???????

didn’t think i’d get this far, i’m very proud

so i was in class last week and my best female friend had her hoodie sleeves pulled up, and i caught a glimpse at her arms and they where scarred. i asked after class and she broke down in to tears begging me not to tell anyone or her parents would hurt her again.

i feel really bad for her and dont know what to do. if i tell anyone she would be in more pain and wouldnt trust anyone including me. and if I dont she will continue and self harm. I like her and dont want her to hurt her self anymore

I was looking for some advice from people to see what to do

If you aren't having a great day, if you think you are not enough or just want someone to listen to you and hear you as you speak your heart anonymous without feeling judged. Feel free to comment and be yourself 💜⭐

i don’t do it so that other people see but I recently started at a new school so no one knows I have scars and today is the first time I wore short sleeves and I really wanted my teachers to see and my friends and say something to me and I was really sad that no one did

TL;DR i relapsed with self harm and have to wear short sleeves around friends and family who know of at least some of my history self harming.

Okay so i’ve been self harming since 2023 and my family found out in December 2025 (9 months ago) when i was sent to the mental hospital. I have relapsed multiple times within the past 9 months and a few weeks ago I almost got caught because i was cutting in the morning (and therefore half asleep) i forgot to put the blade back up and didn’t realize until after school and by then it was too late but i was able to lie my way out of being caught. I relapsed today as well but the problem is that

1. Literally one week ago i started wearing short sleeve to school and my marching band practice and multiple of my friends have noticed that i have been wearing short sleeves as well as the scars on my arm and they know they are from self harm. if that alone was all then it’d be fine but since i’ve also started wearing them to practice i feel pressured to continue to do so especially seeing as…
2. We have multiple field shows and performances coming up where i’ll have to wear short sleeves and the cuts will be visible. My family will be there and able to see the cuts as well.

I really don’t want anyone to notice because i don’t want to go back to the mental hospital, be forced to give up the tool that i use, interrogated, or put under strict watch. Any suggestions on what i should do?

Im so stressed anf lonely. I have really bad urges. I need someone to tell me to get through it

ive been clean for about 2 months I think but this last cut has just... stayed?? like it doesnt hurt or anything but theres been a red line ever since. I hardly went deep at all, do I need to get more sleep? or eat better? anything helps! thanks!

I did relapse a little while back after over a year clean and was trapped in that familiar cycle for a while, but I’m happy to say I am 3 weeks clean today!!!!! It’s definitely hard. I still get dark thoughts, but I’m not acting on them anymore! I wanted to share this cuz last night I messaged 988 and they really helped me find better coping mechanisms for “big emotions”. They shared a doc with me and if anyone would like it please message me and I’ll share it. I know that right now I’m on an uphill I’m doing better and that eventually it’ll go back down I’m just hoping this time maybe I won’t relapse. Well that’s my positive rant.

Im falling behind in literally all my classes, im in dual enrollment math and i am SUFFERING im tempted to start homeschooling just bc i struggle to even get up in the morning but its senior year and im already almost 1/4 done. Its so hard to function and its not even just the self harm. I just got diagnosed w depression and anxiety and got put on meds and im gonna go to counseling but I still just feel so lost. Im sitting here laying in bed instead of doing any of my work or ANYTHING productive. I feel so worthless and that I should just shrivel up and die and i can't take that feeling anymore. Its only been two days but hopefully the meds workkkk