Posted by bob on May 9, 2000, at 23:21:44
In reply to Re: Rage and Cutting--Grrrilla!, posted by Janice on May 9, 2000, at 21:46:55
Another common motive for cutting is control. We're hard-wired to enjoy control, and when you get stuck in a situation where you're experiencing pain that is beyond your control to stop, a number of things can happen. One is turning to self-injury. Not only can the pain you cause yourself push aside the other pain for a while, the perception that you are in control of this process can be extremely powerful. I think this is particularly true when the "other" pain's cause is diffuse, ill-defined, perhaps even attributed to an unknown or unknowable source (fate, luck, God, whatever). It's not just that YOU have control, but the precision you can exert in doing the self-injury, that's such a rush and that makes it soooooo different from that other pain.
my 2cents,
bob
poster:bob
thread:32887
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000508/msgs/32988.html