Why do people sometimes self harm on their face?

[FlowerBox]

This may be a dumb question but I don't know...it's just something I have been wondering about haha, why do people sometimes harm their face instead of somewhere discreet? I also wonder why so many people harm the wrists too, but even then those are easier to hide than the face. I wonder because so many people who self harm are embarrassed and ashamed, so I just wonder why they choose these easy to see places?

This is not meant to be judgemental I am just wondering as someone who also has experience with self harm

 

[Tawny]

I don't know, but i remember almost doing something to my face, our of pure anger, and kept telling myself no, because it was my face. I think it is because i was looking in the mirror at myself. I was unwell at the time but still raging.

I presume the arms are easy to reach? I presume the wrists as that is what people do in films and a sign of a wish to die. I don't know.

 

[bpd2020]

People self harm their face out of pure hatred and the need to punish themselves. While it is happening the person is not able to think that it may be seen. Self harm is not logical.

 

[Tawny]

I have read many posts on here people talking about self-harm as punishment. Is that mis-directed anger?

I was highly agitated and didn't know what to do with all the restless energy in me. I am relieved i didn't damage anything or do any damage to myself. I think i knew that i was not allowed to do anything, those social rules were in my mind, even though i had to let all of this energy out.

 

[Jules5]

Wow If I could only show the pictures of how I self harmed my face and went to work and out to public . People use to think I was a drug addict. I do not do drugs. Also I use to self-harm my head and had bald spots. I had self-harm injuries up and down my arms. For some reason I do not self harm like I did before. I do self harm and you can noticed it on my arms with the scars. Yes I believe it is self hatred that causes me to do this.

 

[Tawny]

I'm so sorry Jules5 and i am relieved to hear you don't do that anymore.

It is strange though how opinions change because i saw a girl with scars all over her arms, and felt sad that she had been so low, but the person i was walking with who is much older than me, said she is probably a drug addict. I would never have associated the two.

 

[FlowerBox]

I have read many posts on here people talking about self-harm as punishment. Is that mis-directed anger?

I was highly agitated and didn't know what to do with all the restless energy in me. I am relieved i didn't damage anything or do any damage to myself. I think i knew that i was not allowed to do anything, those social rules were in my mind, even though i had to let all of this energy out.

I also do it a lot of the time to relieve restless energy but even when I am not doing it because I'm restless, I don't do it to punish myself or because of hating myself...I feel sad for those who use it in that way though...

 

[bpd2020]

I have read many posts on here people talking about self-harm as punishment. Is that mis-directed anger?

I was highly agitated and didn't know what to do with all the restless energy in me. I am relieved i didn't damage anything or do any damage to myself. I think i knew that i was not allowed to do anything, those social rules were in my mind, even though i had to let all of this energy out.

Self harm can be used as a punishment. Often the person feels such anger towards themselves that they want to punish themselves. It can also be used as the emotional pain is so intense the person needs a way to distract from that. For some people physical pain is easier to deal with then emotional pain.

 

[bpd2020]

Wow If I could only show the pictures of how I self harmed my face and went to work and out to public . People use to think I was a drug addict. I do not do drugs. Also I use to self-harm my head and had bald spots. I had self-harm injuries up and down my arms. For some reason I do not self harm like I did before. I do self harm and you can noticed it on my arms with the scars. Yes I believe it is self hatred that causes me to do this.

I am so sorry for your pain.

 

[bpd2020]

I also do it a lot of the time to relieve restless energy but even when I am not doing it because I'm restless, I don't do it to punish myself or because of hating myself...I feel sad for those who use it in that way though...

I feel sad you do it. I think it is sad no matter what the reason the person does it for.

 

[Tawny]

Joe Mcelderry
The Climb

 

[Tawny]

Always going to be an uphill battle...

Uplifting song

 

[lyesander]

It feels like forever ago, but last October I landed myself in the ER due to self harm located on my face. Like Tawny said, it was mostly due to misdirected anger. I was angry at the situation I was in, the people in my life, and myself, and that was the only way I knew how to express it without hurting someone else or inconveniencing others by breaking an object. Since I wasn't thinking clearly, it ended up being on a more noticeable part of my body. How I harmed myself in that situation also factors into it, I believe, but I don't really want to relay specifics.

 

[Tawny]

It sounds like we all should go out on bin day and push the bins over. It seems an almost socially acceptable type of outward aggression (for nice people to do)

(This is a joke and you must not do this)

This misdirected anger is a really bad thing. People write that they hate themselves but they actually hate someone else? My brain is hurting trying to understand the details.

In my case, feeling a disgrace is probably what drove me to almost self harm my face. I did actually do some disgraceful things though, so i cannot blame anyone for that. I may be able to blame brain chemistry, but that is difficult to do also.

 

[Tawny]

It feels like forever ago, but last October I landed myself in the ER due to self harm located on my face. Like Tawny said, it was mostly due to misdirected anger. I was angry at the situation I was in, the people in my life, and myself, and that was the only way I knew how to express it without hurting someone else or inconveniencing others by breaking an object. Since I wasn't thinking clearly, it ended up being on a more noticeable part of my body. How I harmed myself in that situation also factors into it, I believe, but I don't really want to relay specifics.

Are you better now?