Why is self abuse so bad?
I have been diagnosed as borderline and bipolar (yeah a great combo, my psychiatrist even said on his report to my psychologist "a very difficult person, not one I would care to treat") Luckily my psychologist said "poo,poo" and went on counseling. My question is what is so wrong with self abuse. Isn't drinking or smoking or morbid obesity self abuse. And those vices hurt others directly. Why is what I do (burning, hitting, cutting) so horrible. People get piercings all over and that is ok. So what is the problem? How am I hurting anyone with this way of dealing with stress? I'm not killing people with my drunk driving, filling the world with secondhand smoke, or burdening the healthcare system with diabetes, lung cancer, or heart disease. What is the problem?
Hey, Fiona. You're really making me think, here. I never thought of self-abuse like this before, and I gather very few others have. I just assumed it was bad, period. But, like you said, other forms of "self-abuse" such as risky behavior, over-eating, drugs, etc are far more dangerous and have immediate and long-term consequences.
The one obvious bad effect is obviously in appearance. Cut-up arms are not exactly a guy-magnet, may alarm your friends, and may cause strangers to prejudge you. In a hot climate, wearing long sleeves to cover up may draw attention to yourself in ways you have not anticipated.
Also, you don't want to be acting on one of these urges in front of people. You are really going to freak them out and make yourself look very strange. Not the way to win friends and influence people.
Also, any time you handle a sharp blade or break the skin there are risks - the blade could slip and cause some real damage, you can incur an infection ...
Also - and I'm speculating here - there may be a risk of the behavior escalating, of doing violence to yourself to the point of causing irreperable harm.
But, like you said, for right now this beats abusing drugs and engaging in other seriously destructive behaviors. It sounds like you have a very sympathetic therapist, so this would be a good topic to raise.
To readers: Please feel free to jump into the conversation.
Again, you really made me think. (Haven't done that in a long time. :) )
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