Self harm

I think it's going to depend upon the person. Different peoples self-harm for different reasons, and likewise, go about it differently, so yeah. I'd say individual.

Since you haven't gotten much response, I thought I would respond...but I don't know about "usually." I only know my own experience, and for me, the answer is...it's both.

Self-injury at the time I choose to do it is impulsive. It happens when everything is too overwhelming and I'm on the edge of a breakdown. It's kind of a coping mechanism that brings me back to reality. But the fact that I do it at all is, to some extent, long-considered. When I am not on the verge of breakdown, I have thought about it and decided that the mild type of self-harm I still engage it is okay if I need to use it--which is very infrequently. I do not have strategies in place to stop myself from doing it because...well, it only hurts for a few minutes and it doesn't leave a mark, and there is no risk of serious injury. So I am okay with the fact that I do this a few times a year, although it is not ideal. The cutting I did as a teenager might have been a little different. I don't remember exactly what was going through my mind then, though it was definitely somewhat impulsive at the times I did it.

I have done both, myself, in the past.

It's really going to depend on *why* the character is self-harming. Is it 'protest' self-harm with a goal (my life is going nowhere, I'm doing my best to slowly commit suicide -- that kind can be quite measured and considered) or is it 'breakdown'/'in the throes of passion/delusion/whatever' self-harm?

If you're talking about something like cutting and esp that kind of self-harm as a habit, from what I've observed with teens, it's kind of like a drug addiction. It starts out being this weird, out of control, impulsive thing that people do when their emotions are out of control and then it becomes a normalised coping mechanism. It's considered in the sense that people begin to plan the behaviour -- much like a smoker plans their morning cigarette.

I've often wondered if tattoos and piercings are a form of legitimized self-harm. Yes, I know there are artistic tattoos, there are tattoos that Mean Something, tattoos that mark an event, tattoos that identify the wearer as belonging to a certain lifestyle, etc. Same with piercings. But I see so many that are random and just plain ugly, I have to wonder if it's a form of self-hate.

LillithEve said:

If you're talking about something like cutting and esp that kind of self-harm as a habit, from what I've observed with teens, it's kind of like a drug addiction. It starts out being this weird, out of control, impulsive thing that people do when their emotions are out of control and then it becomes a normalised coping mechanism. It's considered in the sense that people begin to plan the behaviour -- much like a smoker plans their morning cigarette.

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I started doing it in high school when I was sixteen. Was mad, sad, and overall pissed off at the world. I read about cutting in an article in Seventeen magazine and honestly, I wanted to see what would happen, even though I'm fairly certain that Seventeen magazine wouldn't publish articles promoting self-harm. Ever since, I go through short periods where I cut, spaced out by long periods where I don't.

Sometimes I do it because my brain was racing around like crazy and it wouldn't stop; for some reason, the pain and blood calmed it down. Or there were times I felt absolutely dead, that at some point I had died and was in hell or purgatory. After that, I'd feel a spark of joy, because the fact I was bleeding meant I was still alive; there was still time enough to fix things.

And it's probably horrible of me to say this, but every time my parents or someone make me swear up and down that I'll never do it again, it makes me kind of mad. Yes, I know it's bad and I shouldn't do it, but sometimes, knowing that I can is enough of a comfort.