well as has been said the "emo" and attention thing obviously... another one I've heard it that it's "suicide for the indecisive", "practice suicide" or "half-hearted suicide"
what sort of stuff are you looking for personal expiriances wise?
maybe you could include a bit of how these stereotypes and general "bad name" spreads over into the health service which can sometimes lead to bad expiriances there... or how people make jokes about "slitting their wrists" and stuff?
thanks people :) at the mo im just staring at a blank word document haha
shadow-light : erm, im not really sure personal expirence wise, maybe like expirences with the emergency services or something ? i duno i just dont want to be too intrusive...
im doing an essay/presenation on the prejudices/sterotypes assosiated with SI
any personal expirences/why people started etc/help of any kind would be great ?
Stereotypes are the same as people said though i mostly got 'goth' like it was a derisive term.
I have a couple of personal experiences, most of the time when people seen my scars they ignored it like it wasn't there, or stared and asked other people what had happened to me. There was one time I was outside a concert and a girl seen my scars and she ran down to me to show me hers, but in a way that she was proud of them, it actually scared me a bit because some people with me didn't know that i had caused the scars myself. Also a good experience to share with you was when I was in the psych ward and it was boiling hot there but i wouldn't take my cardigan off lol, well the girls i made friends with figured out what i was hiding and they didnt say 2 bad words they made me feel comfortable just accepting who i was, eventually they asked me questions about it and i think that was good cause they just wanted to understand.
My family, when they first found out decided it was a phase i was going through and shouting at me to stop would make it so.
It's hard to say why i started I dont think I really thought about it, it just happened. I was such a quiet child and didn't like to bother other people with my problems, this was my way of dealing. Sometimes it got to the point where i believed i deserved it.
here's something that happened last year when I went to the hospital with a cut on my thigh: I get there and was taken through to get it dressed, they asked how it happened etc, and I decided to tell the truth, the nurse who did the dressing was ok about it, but told me that as it was self inflicted I couldn't go and get it seen to where everyone else would (no idea why) so he put a bandage on it and sent me back to the waiting room... 4 hours later (by which time I was feeling pritty ill) I finally got taken through the get it delt with. the doctor took me into the room, looked at the chart, looked at me and said something along the lines of "you do realise that we do have REAL injuries to see to, we don't have time for time wasters like you who create these fake injuries yourself" he then took some iodine to my leg and when I said it hurt he said "well you shouldn't do this to yourself then should you? and anyway I thought that people like you liked pain" he then went on to say that "people like you are as bad as the people who hoax call ambulances, we do have real patients you know" he then finally shut up and actually steri-striped my leg. then when I asked if there was anything I had to do with steri-strips (never had them before) he just looked at me and left the room...
though I've also been a fair few times when they were fine about it all...
erm... I've always been really careful and never really lt anyone see any of my cuts/scars... so I don't have that many other expiriances...
though during the exams (june ones) a group of us went out and they were taking about how they thought they'd failed there exams and one person when "oh my god, boo hoo, i've failed everything, must slit my wrists" while laughing and doing the motion with their hands. I told them how they were being in sensitive and rude, and they went on a big rant about how it was all for attention anyway, so I said that if it was all for attention then surely they would know if anyone they knew cut, and they replied that of course they would and they wouldn't hang about with such "freaks" anyway... so I rolled up my sleeve...
should have seen their face lol
that's the only time (other than when I first told my boyfriend that I SI) that I have ever shown anyone any of them... but I think it was worth it, even if I've just made that one person think twice before acting that way again
Stereotypes: as said the usual- emo/ its for attention/ you want to die
Personal experiences: started because i had no one to talk to. A few people tried to blackmail me into stopping-takin tools, saying 'if you hurt then i'll do it too'--> not nice very pressuring
Um with docs-- only one who said since i was at uni when i spoke to her i should talk to the uni advisory service, i told her i wouldnt as it had been going on for 6 years and didnt want to discuss it ther-- to which she bascially said that was the only option i was getting for then and to come back if i realli didnt want to go. I didnt go back. Her attitude put me off cos she didnt once listen to what i had to say and immediatly started asking about suicide.
Obv emo and attention seeking for stereotypes. And that it's just a fake suicide attempt.
I have generally had okay expereinces with doctors about my SI though had a few make comments like "Oh you've had a fair few goes there haven't you!?" I just replied "Yeah I'm going for the Picasso effect" and she didn't say anything else.
See I cannot feel this, not matter how you try and in the real world, there's no goodbyes.
t's hard to say why i started I dont think I really thought about it, it just happened. I was such a quiet child and didn't like to bother other people with my problems, this was my way of dealing. Sometimes it got to the point where i believed i deserved it.
I agree with that all the way. My siblings always have needed attention and so there was a point where I just stopped telling anyone what was wrong.
In my life everyone always seems to need you to pay attention to what is wrong with them and there's no time left for yourself...well until late at night when you're alone and with no one to talk to...that's when it's the most dangerous. Sometimes you just can't escape and then you realize that you have a razor blade. I've only being SHing for around a year...i started when I was 16. The stereotype is that it's young teenagers that have had something mentally scarring(rape, abuse, bullying) but really SH can happen to anyone that has a built up of emotions.
I still have not told anyone in my life...even though I think about telling someone every single day. When your problem started from not telling people about other problems its hard to give up and tell someone.
