For my youth ministry class at seminary, I have to do a final project on a "problem" in youth ministry. I think I am going to study cutting. A few of the girls that I work with at my youth group do it and as far as I can tell, it serves the same purpose as alcohol abuse: numbing and escape.
I don't know exactly where to go with this, but I want to use it as an opportunity to learn more about it and figure out what the hell is going on with our girls.
From my own experience (which is having a sister who mutilated her entire torso with razors, and another sister who put cigarettes out all over her arms), I would disagree that the purpose is to numb. I think some people cut because they are desperate to feel, and to having feelings that are totally in their control. In some cases, feeling pain is better than feeling nothing. Or, it can be a re-channeling of the pain, from emotional to physical.
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