Why can't I stop self-harming?

Short answer: Because you haven't harmed yourself badly enough to scare you into stopping. Long answer: Some people self-harm all their lives, in many different ways. One person might stop drinking only to keep harming, another might turn to drugs, or spending too much time escaping into TV/games/movies/etc. Anything can become an addiction, if it affects every other part of our lives for the worse. At some point, your urge to harm yourself will make you feel that you want to stop. It might be a therapist you need, it might be a good friend listening, it might just be your own conscience saying "Enough." You CAN stop self-harming. You simply have to want to, enough. I hope you reach that point soon, and go from surviving to thriving. Best wishes

Self-harming can be like an addiction, it can give you that rush of endorphins which can be addictive. Though there are other healthy coping skills that can replace it! :)

Self harming can easily and quickly become a habit. It provides a release for emotional pain, by turning it into physical pain. This can become a habit easily as in the short term, it can help you feel better. It can cause a rush of adreanaline also, increasing the desire to do it. The easiest way to quit is finding alternate activities such as drawing, rubber band snapping, music, etc... when you get the urge to self harm. Remember that it takes time.

Like most drugs, you can get addicted to doing things, you like how it feels so much that it just sticks with you. If you have an addiction issue please look into the addiction support community here on 7cups >> https://www.7cups.com/forum/AddictionSupportCommunity_131/

Usually once you have self harmed it becomes addictive! It becomes this thing that you need to do every time that you are upset. Instead of self-harming, try to talk to someone about how you feel, why you are upset, etc.

Self harm becomes an addiction, and it is indeed really hard to stop. Try your best, and if you believe in you, you can make it! :) I wish you the best of luck with it

Short Answer: Psychology. Self-harming is an addiction. Like drugs or alcohol or even soft drinks. And so it is just as hard to stop doing. Don't be hard on yourself, you're try to kick an addiction. That takes time and commitment.

Sometimes we have feelings within ourselves, that we feel must be expressed in certain ways. From what you have said, you have expressed these emotions through self harm, which you have felt is your only way of coping. There are many other people out there just like you, who have a hard time coping with these emotions in safe ways. We have many articles on 7 cups that discuss self-harm, and how to receive help. We not only have listeners on here, who you can express your emotions to, but we also have therapists as well, who would gladly help find different ways to express those emotions!

Sometimes when people self-harm, it could become an addiction. This could be because you simply like feeling pain or you just can't stop because you keep having a bad/sad day and so fourth. I believe though it can be stop as there are other strategies, such as, rubbing an ice cube on your arm/wrist/tongue even, having an elastic band/ponytail on your wrist and snapping it against your skin, use a red marker even just to draw the marks to make it look like it, etc... So I believe it can be stop but if you really can't then it is more likely an addiction.

It is very difficult to simply stop self-harming. I found it very useful to give myself permission to self-harm, BUT only after I'd done a few self-soothing activities, such as going for a walk, taking a bath or a shower, listening to music I loved, and so on. It also helps to talk to a counselor or even someone else who has managed to overcome self-harm. The bottom line reason you find it difficult to stop self-harming is because it is a fairly effective, short-term coping strategy. It might be useful to Google the term: "self-soothing strategies" for tips on other ways to soothe painful feelings.

Its totally normal to feel tbis way but you can get help from friends,family,councillors etc to stop

Self harming isn't something you can control. It's this pull that you can't stop, but it will get better. It doesn't define you.

it may be a good feeling, but we both know it's only a temporary fix. the answer to your problems are not at the end of that blade but within you

Because it is very addictive, it is a way of coping and you're hooked. It is like a drug and you keep on doing it do get the same effect.

Self harm has been seen as a way to divert your mind to forget the mental harassment and concentrate on the physical pain. It is an addiction because once ypu get used to that sort of relief, you find everything else useless.

Why can’t you stop self-harming? Well it’s more complicated than most people expect. It can be a physical addiction. The feeling can release endorphins into your body making you feel better and you can get addicted to these endorphins, making being clean as hard as giving up cigarettes. As someone who used to self-harm, I know how hard it is, and even when you feel perfectly fine you feel as though you need to hurt yourself simply because your body wants the rush of chemicals that feels good. The same chemical is released when you exorcise or do other activities.

Self harm is often hard. It makes you feel alive and free but once you put that little blade away you feel alone. Then when the pain stops you want to do it again.

because... morality pain harder than phisical