jennifer lea tung
I am a little bit sick of people telling me that mental illness is all about control. Well yes, to a certain extent it is but what happens when it becomes out of your control. What happens when your brain is telling you repeatedly to slice up your arms or carve off parts of your body. What happens when your first thought in the morning is to go and get a knife and stab yourself. Quite bizarre behaviour is'nt it but it happens. There are other emotional pains that equally hurt like this one, but none so demanding. My mind actually screams at me obscenities over and over again. It will tell me to cut myself over and over again and when i eventually do, do it the relief is euphoric, its like i have actually done something i have been told to do for once. The physical pain that proceeds the cutting,the stinging and so on is what my mind tells i deserve, like i am paying for my sins. I was always hated by my stepfather as a child, my real father sexually abused me and even now i still feel like its my fault. The pain is my comfort zone if you like. My world feels weird without it. jenny xx

Roxy - Lauren - Bluez
This documentary is good, it does highlight the need to make people more aware of SI, i have done for 5 years and am getting to a stage now that i depend on it so much i am practically doing it on a daily basis. I struggle but hearing the doc, it makes me believe its going to effect atleast 1 person and show them that SI is not the only way. - I only wish it was there when i needed it. Gr8 Stuff

ANON
i started self harming when i was 14. my life was falling apart before my eyes i had no control of what was happening. i was being bullied, i had very low self esteem, my mum and her long term partner's relationship ended in violent circumstances. i felt completely isolated from my friends. i had so much that i wanted to say to people yet felt that i could not burden people. i blamed everything that was going wrong on myself. i was angry that i couldnt be strong. then one day i read an article in a magazine about Self harm and it made me think i could do it too... afterall no one understood how i felt and it would be a way to punish myself. i thought i would only do it once but it was never enough. i kept doing it, until people noticed. i then started overdosing until at 17 i ended up in hospital with attempted suicide... all i would say to people who are self harming or seeing it as an attractive option... ITS NOT! GET HELP and TALK. you have a voice even though it may be painful to talk, nothing can remove the physical scars or stresses on your body and mind. its like an addiction... please please speak to someone you trust, but dont suffer in silence... nothing you say will shock people. if you cant talk to a friend a relative, school or uni counsellor or gp. get the help you deserve... STOP THE PAIN NOW!YOU ARE WORTH HELPING

Anonymous
I work within an enviroment where self harming has now become the norm. Women appear to be much more vunerable to self harm and often struggle to explain 'why'. It worries me that the increase in cutting in young women appears, in some cases, to be a trend. A dangerous trend that as another anonymous has stated becomes addictive. These young (and old women) need support and guidance. In this profession dealing with self harm is part of the job, however on occasions it can leave you feeling very vunerable yourself. Questions such as, did i say the right thing, did i make it worse, i want to help but cant, often remain in my head when travelling home. Self harming in females is extremley high and i hope in the future more treatment is available. My question is is it all linked to hormones?

Tina
I guess I have been self-harming since I started secondary school, even though I wasn't aware of it as that.It was more a way of getting out of stressful situations, rather than consciously hurting myself. But after going through a very traumatic event last year, I first started deliberately and consciously injuring myself. For me it is a way of coping with feelings of intense self-hate, the need to punish myself and cope with what happened. None of my family, friends or colleagues know about sh, and right now I'm not getting any help. I also suffer from depression, which I think is interlinked with my self harm. I wish I could stop and I am trying to get help right now, but it is very difficult to talk about self harm or mental health issues because of the prejudice surrounding it. Quite simply, I'm scared to lose my job if I admit to having a problem.

Anonymous
I never understood why people turned to self-harm until I did myself. My parents were going through a messy separation and I lost the ability to cry. My mother was always crying, I would go to bed she'd be crying, I'd wake up in the middle of the night she'd be sobbing...I guess I felt almost like there was no point in crying myself so I turned to cutting myself. I never cut myself deeply but somehow it released my pain. I am very fortunate because one of my friends spotted marks on my arms very early on and she told me to stop because if I continued I would not be able to stop. I think that's when I realised that deep down me cutting myself was a cry for help. When my friend recognised what I was doing I was embarassed and frightened. I then went to a counsellor who helped me sort out my issues in a healthy manner. I must admit though I couldn't cry for two whole years after my parents split up...and the moment I could again was a very happy one. Anyone out there who is self harming...please try and stop. In the long run you are only prolonging your pain. Call anonymous helplines and try and deal with your problems in a less harmful way. I know it's hard but believe me you'll be happy when you do. You can get out of this destructive pattern.