| "aLL gOtHs sELf-hArM..." |
| OK, this definately isn't true! Most goths I know don't self-harm, although it's true that a few do. I think that it's about expressing the inner pain in a more tangiable way. There are several reasons that people self-harm in the ways they do: Because their friends do- if they see that their friends (who they respect) have self-harmed then they might think that if they DON'T then they'll seem uncool- the same reason a lot of people start smoking, or taking drugs. Because they want attention- people who are depressed sometimes self-harm because they feel that no one cares, or that no one even KNOWS they have a problem. This is a way of showing that they're aren't as OK as evryone thinks. Because they can't express their anger towards others- if you try to repress or deny feelings of anger towards other people you end up blaming yourself. This leads to guilt, and a feeling that you must punish yourself for the bad things in your life. This is a way of letting out those, but can be more destructive than the original emotion of anger. |
| There are clues to the motive behind the self-harm in the way that it's carried out- if the wounds are made in an obviouse place; the lower arms is the most common; so that friends can see the scars, but so that they can be covered and hidden from parents or teachers, then they are probably crying out for help from the people who they let see the scars. If the wounds are hidden; on the back for example; then the person is trying to hide what they do. This is a way of denying that they were angry or depressed and covering up any problems, and is probably more seriouse. Self-harm can be done using any object capable of damaging the skin, for example kinives, compasses or even the finger nails, but (less obviously) self-harm can include drug abuse (often of legal drugs), not just despite but BECAUSE of knowledge that they will harm the person. The general thought path is that the things they feel are wrong and that they are BAD people for feeling them and need to punish themselves in some way to counteract these feelings of guilt. |
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