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Old 06-11-2019, 09:15 PM   #1
Kaybarr
 
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I need to hear other peoples' opinions/thoughts... tw SI

I'm new here, so I'm not sure if I'm doing this right; helpful advice is very welcome lol. But anyway, a SH-related question has been nagging at me for a while now, and I don't know how to find an answer besides just asking people, so here I am.

You know how, in the minds of the general public, and possibly in reality idk, there's a sort of hierarchy of different SH's being "worse" or "more severe" than others? Like, some methods are taken more seriously than others? I hope that makes sense..

With that sort of hierarchical concept in mind - and I hope it's okay to ask; if it isn't please do just lmk - do you think it's worse to carve words as opposed to typical cutting? or are they comparable? I think there's more stigma and social risk with carving, but as far as one's body is concerned, it's pretty much the same level of injury...
Yeah I really want some other thoughts about this, thanks


Last edited by Kaybarr : 06-11-2019 at 09:22 PM. Reason: I'm a psych student, so I assumed you used SI here for "self-injury," but I realized it's probably "suicidal ideation"
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Old 07-11-2019, 02:24 AM   #2
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There is no "better" or "worse". I agree that there does seem to be varying levels of stigma with certain details involved, but they are all essentially the same. I think this is also a thing in that some people believe the self harm has to reach a certain level of severity before it is worth talking about or seeking help for. This is not true either. If it is happening at all, it matters and you deserve to seek help.
Hang in there. I hope this helps.



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Old 07-11-2019, 12:05 PM   #3
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I think you have to think what the self harm means to the individual. Like is it worse for them? Compared to what they normally do. Is the method used indicative of a higher level of distress for them?



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Old 07-11-2019, 02:58 PM   #4
not_so_insig
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I know that when I have done it in certain places on my body then it's a sign of things are getting too severe in terms of my SI. It may be not as deep as some of my "preferred" places to cut but it's still worrying. I may not be the best person to ask as I havent cut in a long time.

Fyi OP we use the term SI to mean self injury here. It's rare that someone uses the term suicidal idealation we tend to use the term suicide. Or OD to mean overdose.



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Old 07-11-2019, 03:15 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chinahorse View Post
Is the method used indicative of a higher level of distress for them?
I think that's a good point, actually. Pardon the psych-student-ness here, but the phrasing reminds me in a way of how every DSM diagnosis is contingent upon distress to the person or those around them. Like, yeah basically everyone has symptoms of one MI or another, but it isn't a diagnosable disorder unless it causes distress. So I think it makes sense to evaluate the 'severity' of any particular method based on the level of distress that caused the person to do it. All this to say, I guess I can consider it 'worse' if the distress behind it was worse, but it probably isn't objectively 'worse,' like, for everyone/in general? Would you agree that the hierarchy-concept is therefore completely subjective? Or would that be only given equal physical (objectively evaluable) severity?

Sorry if this is a lot, I'm kinda just thinking aloud because I really want to make sense of this for myself. Thanks for helping me figure this out

Also, not_so_insig, thanks for the FYI, lol.


Last edited by Kaybarr : 07-11-2019 at 03:20 PM. Reason: didn't want to make a whole 'nother reply just to add that last comment
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Old 08-11-2019, 07:49 PM   #6
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I've been thinking about this a lot since I read this post last night, and I don't know if there's any right answer here.

I don't think method or medical severity of self harm are reflective of level of distress in many cases. After all, someone may be in extreme distress and never choose to self harm, and someone could self harm to a medically significant degree for something relatively minor, simply because it's become their primary method of coping.

What I do think varies, though, can be the reason behind specific form of self harm and the level of stigmatization.

So, for me personally words would indicate less severity of distress (as for me, my more typical self harm has typically occurred as an effort for grounding or releasing other more intense emotions) but more desire to punish myself or remind myself of something I did wrong. For others, their reasons may be different and the reason for words might indicate more severe distress.

I also think that any visible self harm scarring is stigmatizing, but anything outside of very faded narrow lines on the arms is often stigmatized moreso, at least by others. So larger scars, more extensive scars, more numerous scars, word scars, burn scars, etc are often seen as more severe by the general public (I'd assume because they're more confronting to look at) but that's not a reflection of whether the symptoms causing the self harm are "severe" or not.

Basically this was a long way of saying I think severity is all relative, and I don't think there's any real way to classify a hierarchy of what methods are more severe than others outside of like.. medical significance, which isn't necessarily reflective of a person's mental state. What methods are more severe in terms of mental distress is going to vary so much person to person that I would venture to say any hierarchy would be applicable for only a small subset of self harmers, possibly only for one specific self harmer.


Last edited by Greyscale : 08-11-2019 at 07:58 PM.
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Old 08-11-2019, 11:18 PM   #7
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I'd say that u can't judge severety of emotions and distress by severety of injury s ever. People have, to my knowledge,often felt unheard because the severity of the injury doesn't match the severity of there torment they then feel even worse about themselves as they haven't done "a bad enough job" then they beat themselves up and then possibly sh again. I wish more people knew this. Welcome to ryl by the way

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Old 09-11-2019, 12:00 PM   #8
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*what other people have said* Basically I think there is different medical severities of course and people do tend to think that the more severe the injury the worse the person was hurting but there are lots of other things to consider so I don't think the background emotions etc to the injury can be inferred just from the injury itself.





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