Most information out there is teenage based however i do believe we have some older members on the site. A lot of them use Vets general and Vet support.
I doubt you're alone! :) There are plenty of people just here on RYL who aren't teenagers. Duffer already mentioned the Vets board--they're great over there.
I just wanted to raise a concern about the research that's floating around online. Keep in mind when you're reading it that it's based on the reported statistics of self-harmers. Since not everyone who harms comes forward, that means those statistics are wrong. Therefore, the biases toward teenaged females that creep into the support information are also incorrect--not to mention unfair, and really difficult to swallow. Try not to pay it too much attention. The truth is that self-harming affects all kinds of people, apparently regardless of demographic.
Nope your not alone.
Im defo not a teenager and there are a fair few on this site not teenagers either.
As mentioned above, vets is where you tend to find the older people. (I would say more mature, but if you have ever been in vets you will notice it is probably one of the lease mature places on ryl)
I'm 40, and I self harm. [Although not by cutting.]
I started a poll thread on the age people started self harming. I didn't until I was in my late 20s. It's somewhere in Vets.
Very far from the only one! I have known many many members over 50 here at RYL over the years.
It is 'interesting' to me though to hear that you have just started, as opposed to living a life with self harm. I would be interested if you were able and willing to hear more about your story as reverting life long coping mechanisms for self harm at that age is more unusual. I'm sure there will be clear reasons I can help you identify and I would be interested to discover them so that the information can be shared.
Yeh, there's quite a lot of members and a lot of professionals also turn to it; I know some professions have support websites and parts of the may talk about SH. You're far from the only one. I started to SH 'properly' when I was 19, I know that's much younger than yourself and I was technically still a teenager at that time but in terms of how I act and stuff I seemed much older than that. Really, though there are a lot of teens on RYL, because it of it having older members the number of these in comparison to other sites is potentially greater as well as the fact that we don't glamourise SH; something that teenagers tend to do and look for more often.
