Self Injury Quotes

“I know exactly how that is. To love somebody who doesn’t deserve it. Because they are all you have. Because any attention is better than no attention. For exactly the same reason, it is sometimes satisfying to cut yourself and bleed. On those gray days where eight in the morning looks no different from noon and nothing has happened and nothing is going to happen and you are washing a glass in the sink and it breaks-accidentally-and punctures your skin. And then there is this shocking red, the brightest thing in the day, so vibrant it buzzes, this blood of yours. That is okay sometimes because at least you know you’re alive.”
― Augusten Burroughs, Running with Scissors

“I can feel the hurt. There's something good about it. Mostly it makes me stop remembering.”
― Albert Borris, Crash Into Me

“I stopped. She was bleeding after all. Perfect lines crossed her wrists, not near any crucial veins, but enough to leave wet red tracks across her skin. She hadn;t hit her veins when she did this; death hadn't been her goal.”
― Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy

“When you have a persistent sense of heartbreak and gutwrench, the physical sensations become intolerable and we will do anything to make those feelings disappear. And that is really the origin of what happens in human pathology. People take drugs to make it disappear, and they cut themselves to make it disappear, and they starve themselves to make it disappear, and they have sex with anyone who comes along to make it disappear and once you have these horrible sensations in your body, you’ll do anything to make it go away.”
― Bessel A. van der Kolk

“You don't feel like you're hurting yourself when you're cutting. You feel like this is the only way to take care of yourself.”
― Marilee Strong, A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain

“and afterward, after it was done, it was too much, and I felt like I was going to... I don't know.... explode, and it was just too much, I had to let it out you know? I had to-

I interrupted her hysteria It's okay, I understand.

That was a lie. I didn't get her cutting at all. She'd done it sporadically, ever since the accident and it scared me each time. She'd try to explain it to me, how she didn't want to die - she just needed to get it out somehow. She felt so much emotionally, she would say, that a physical outlet - physical pain - was the only way to make her internal pain go away. It was the only way she could control it.”
― Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy

“Punishments include such things as flashbacks, flooding of unbearable emotions, painful body memories, flooding of memories in which the survivor perpetrated against others, self-harm, and suicide attempts.”
― Alison Miller, Healing the Unimaginable: Treating Ritual Abuse and Mind Control

“Oh God just look at me now... one night opens words and utters pain... I cannot begin to explain to you... this... I am not here. This is not happening. Oh wait, it is, isn't it?

I am a ghost. I am not here, not really. You see skin and cuts and frailty...these are symptoms, you known, of a ghost. An unclear image with unclear thoughts whispering vague things...

If I told you what was really in my head, you''d never let me leave this place. And I have no desire to spend time in hell while I'm still, in theory, alive.”
― Emily Andrews, The Finer Points of Becoming Machine

“That's when I wanted to cut. I cut to quiet the cacophony. I cut to end this abstracted agony, to reel my selves back to one present and physical whole, whose blood was the proof of her tangibility.”
― Caroline Kettlewell, Skin Game

“I am not "cured"--I know I never will be. I will always crave that pain to keep me centered. I will always be just a little astounded when I get through a crisis without putting a blade to my flesh.”
― J. Kenner, Complete Me

“We all have scars; both inside and out. Use your experience to support those who are going down the same road of destruction you once went down. Know that your past is worth more than the pain you once carried, because it can now be used to comfort and give strength to another soul who is suffering. Cherish your trials and tribulations as gifts; embrace these opportunities to share the grace you have been given.”
― Katie Maslin

“Well how many troubles should equal a legitimate reason for self-mutilation? Ten? Twenty? One hundred? And how monumental must these troubles be? There’s probably no critical mass beyond which cutting yourself would ever seem to most people like a reasonable choice. I cut because it did look that way to me. I cut because something had to give. I cut because the alternatives were worse.”
― Caroline Kettlewell, Skin Game

“Self-destructiveness may be a primary form of communication for those who do not yet have ways to tame their excruciating inner conflicts and feelings and who cannot yet turn to others for support.”
― James A. Chu, Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Treating Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders

“Told I talked too much
made too much noise

I took up a silent hobby—
Bleeding.”
― S. Marie

“Unspeakable feelings need to find expression in words. However... verbalization of very intense feelings may be a difficult task.”
― James A. Chu, Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Treating Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders

“I decry the injustice of my wounds, only to look down and see that I am holding a smoking gun in one hand and a fistful of ammunition in the other.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Self-mutilation is a very different issue to suicide. It is a controlled pain personal to you, allowing you to live/exist to some degree.”
― Richy Edwards, A Version of Reason: In Search of Richey Edwards

“Somehow however just knowing that I could fully expect unhappiness to return – if not predictably then nevertheless reliably – was strangely liberating. The point was that even chaos had a structure a beginning and eventually an end. It was possible to live through it. I’d been doing as much for twenty years.”
― Caroline Kettlewell, Skin Game

“This time the skin seperates and she blinks her way back into the universe, watches the valley fold open, the blood seaming up along the cut and pressing out, blue to red in the air of this world, and as usual the pain springs her into the here and now.”
― Martha O'Connor, The Bitch Goddess Notebook

“We both knew what it was to hurt our bodies. It's a strange reason to bond with someone, but I think we both needed to feel understood, and, even though we couldn't love ourselves, we could love each other.”
― Melissa C. Water, Lady Injury

“Why can't I remember our family Christmas, or a warm spring day, or anything that might have been pleasant? It is as though the filter of recall is itself altered, so that it blocks out everything but the darkest colors of the spectrum.”
― Caroline Kettlewell, Skin Game

“I paint my wrists
a pretty red
To silence the demons
in my head
Creating art
out of my pain
It's the only thing
that keeps me sane

But why do others cry
when they see my art?
Is it because
I ripped the canvas apart?
I never understood
why they looked so upset
I guess they just don't like
the color red”
― Y.B.

“When is an attempt not a real act of self-destruction but merely an attention-seeking device? We may never know; however, since even attention-seekers kill themselves, it may not matter. The question we should really be asking is: Why would anyone have to get attention in such a morbid way?”
― Andrew Slaby

“When I feel blue
I cope with red

And the sad part is
you completely get
what I just said”
― Y.B.

“It's important to keep in mind that most people have no idea how to respond effectively to someone who self-harms.”
― Kim L. Gratz, Freedom from Self-Harm: Overcoming Self-Injury with Skills from DBT and Other Treatments

“This might surprise you, but one of the best ways to manage your emotions is simply to experience that emotion and let it run its course.”
― Kim L. Gratz, Freedom from Self-Harm: Overcoming Self-Injury with Skills from DBT and Other Treatments

“We want to be clear: The skills we [teach] you for managing your emotions and controlling your urges to self-harm will never be quite as effective or satisfying as self-harm in the short run.”
― Kim L. Gratz, Freedom from Self-Harm: Overcoming Self-Injury with Skills from DBT and Other Treatments

“Having a strong urge is like having a child throw a temper tantrum inside you, screaming "Hurt yourself!" But if you repeatedly ignore the urge's request and don't harm yourself, your brain will learn that urges don't work, just as a child learns that throwing a tantrum won't work.”
― Kim L. Gratz, Freedom from Self-Harm: Overcoming Self-Injury with Skills from DBT and Other Treatments

“Even though alcohol abuse is frowned upon by society, it's generally considered acceptable to drink in moderation in many social situations. In fact, society has a pretty high tolerance for drinking, even when people drink to the point of getting tipsy. This is definitely not the case for self-harm, though. On the contrary, society generally sees self-harm as unacceptable at any level and under any circumstances.”
― Kim L. Gratz, Alexander L. Chapman, Freedom from Self-Harm: Overcoming Self-Injury with Skills from DBT and Other Treatments

“Language such as 'doing something stupid' is not only incredibly patronising but also stigmatising. Self-harm and suicide are neither silly nor stupid, they are expressions of something inexpressible, ways of communicating hopelessness.”
― Rachael Newham, Learning to Breathe: My Journey With Mental Illness