Finally! Some Facts About Self-Mutilators.
October 13th 2008 07:12
All the following is from a book called Cutting by Steven Levenkron, it was published by Norton, in New York, 1998. I have absolutely no permission to reproduce any of the work but seeing as I've referenced it, I should be okay. And anyway, it's not like anyone from Norton reads my blog... *shifty eyes*
There are two types of cutters;
The nondissociative
"If parents themselves require support form the child, or the parents have an inadequate amount of warmth and attentiveness to offer the child, the child does not enjoy the security to express the natural negative feelings that all children occasionally express towards their parents.
"If a child experiences this reversal of dependence during her formative years, she can only bare to feel anger towards herself, never towards others. She... suffers from intolerable rage with which she is only capable of attacking herself" (Levenkron, pp. 48).
The dissociative
"The child who, during her formative years, experiences a lack of warmth and nurturance, or who is the subject of her parents' cruelty, [feels] disconnected from her parents, from others and ultimately self-mutilates" (Levenkron, pp. 48).
Cutters do not have the vocabulary to voice their feelings; their wounds are their way of talking.
The befits gained form cutting are listed as;
Pain as the goal
Self-mutilators may seem submissive; they may go along with other people's ideas because they think they will not be liked if they don't. They may also be involved in a role-reversal with the parents where they must be the mature one. In both cases, they repress their feelings, but these feelings need to be expressed somehow. One way is cutting.
An act of Anger
Cutting as a physical pain to combat emotional pain. Either the cutter hurts themselves the way they wish they could hurt the person (or people) that hurt them, or they focus on the physical pain because it is a distraction from constant emotional pain like the type felt by an incest victim.
Self-Medication
"When the body is injured, hormones called endorphins are released to fight anxiety, agitation and depression. The self-mutilator might be combining depression, anxiety and past history in order to become the architect of her own pain. ... The chemical interplay can produce an addiction to the 'drugs' manufactured by one's own body." (Leverkron, pp. 105-106)
There is so much more I would like to write but I would have to re-publish the book to get it all out. If you're interested, this book is factual and easy to read- I recommend it for anyone with any reason for being interested in the matter.
There are two types of cutters;
The nondissociative
"If parents themselves require support form the child, or the parents have an inadequate amount of warmth and attentiveness to offer the child, the child does not enjoy the security to express the natural negative feelings that all children occasionally express towards their parents.
The dissociative
"The child who, during her formative years, experiences a lack of warmth and nurturance, or who is the subject of her parents' cruelty, [feels] disconnected from her parents, from others and ultimately self-mutilates" (Levenkron, pp. 48).
Cutters do not have the vocabulary to voice their feelings; their wounds are their way of talking.
The befits gained form cutting are listed as;
Pain as the goal
Self-mutilators may seem submissive; they may go along with other people's ideas because they think they will not be liked if they don't. They may also be involved in a role-reversal with the parents where they must be the mature one. In both cases, they repress their feelings, but these feelings need to be expressed somehow. One way is cutting.
An act of Anger
Cutting as a physical pain to combat emotional pain. Either the cutter hurts themselves the way they wish they could hurt the person (or people) that hurt them, or they focus on the physical pain because it is a distraction from constant emotional pain like the type felt by an incest victim.
Self-Medication
"When the body is injured, hormones called endorphins are released to fight anxiety, agitation and depression. The self-mutilator might be combining depression, anxiety and past history in order to become the architect of her own pain. ... The chemical interplay can produce an addiction to the 'drugs' manufactured by one's own body." (Leverkron, pp. 105-106)
There is so much more I would like to write but I would have to re-publish the book to get it all out. If you're interested, this book is factual and easy to read- I recommend it for anyone with any reason for being interested in the matter.
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Comment by Lady Henrietta Muddling
Potter in a Harry
And just voting. May as well write something.
Interesting article. It's not just a Gen Y problem.
Comment by Wynona Lavota
Generation Y Life
Thanks for the comment