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Types and dealing with depression via cutting

ubiquitous1

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I was wondering if there is any correlation between a specific type and cutting themselves
 

Totenkindly

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I don't know of any statistics... and it's kind of hard to collect samples; most cutters won't report it.

I'll be honest: I've cut before, and I still feel strongly tempted even nowadays, from time to time. It's usually done for one of two reasons with me: Either I feel a lot of emotional pain I don't know what to do with, or I'm punishing myself for not being as pure or strong as I feel I should be.

Maybe types that more easily go in those directions would be more susceptible. I would suspect there to be less ExTJ and Type Eight cutters, for example, than some other more passive types.
 

Antimony

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I can imagine the INFPs. I know an ESFP who used to.
 

Totenkindly

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Gotta say too, it's usually a woman thing.
 

Oaky

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...I'm a bit hemophobic so I wouldn't dare dream of doing such a thing. I also don't understand why someone would do it. It hurts, it's disgusting and it's harmful. The most likely ones to do it are the INFPs in my opinion.
 

Totenkindly

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...I'm a bit hemophobic so I wouldn't dare dream of doing such a thing. I also don't understand why someone would do it. It hurts, it's disgusting and it's harmful. The most likely ones to do it are the INFPs in my opinion.

I should ask my ex-roomie. She deals with teens in psych wards and talks all the time about how many girls there are/were cutters. (And no, I don't imagine even 15% of them are INFPs. I wouldn't be surprised to see lots of IxFx's, though.)
 
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Phantonym

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...I'm a bit hemophobic so I wouldn't dare dream of doing such a thing. I also don't understand why someone would do it. It hurts, it's disgusting and it's harmful. The most likely ones to do it are the INFPs in my opinion.

I think it could happen to any type if the circumstances are right. For some people it's a coping mechanism, a release of intense emotions that seem too difficult to handle any other way. It's a sort of tunnel vision behaviour, people doing it are only thinking about the relief they get as a result.
 

Oaky

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I should ask my ex-roomie. She deals with teens in psych wards and talks all the time about how many girls there are/were cutters. (And no, I don't imagine even 15% of them are INFPs. I wouldn't be surprised to see lots of IxFx's, though.)
Well if you count in the percentage of INFPs out there I'd be surprised if it was even 5%. I'm just matching things together. Wasn't it the INFPs who experience depression the most?

I think it could happen to any type if the circumstances are right. For some people it's a coping mechanism, a release of intense emotions that seem too difficult to handle any other way. It's a sort of tunnel vision behaviour, people doing it are only thinking about the relief they get as a result.
Well I certainly wouldn't ever do it. I also can't imagine any ESTPs, ESTJs or ENTJs doing it. It would be weird.
 

Totenkindly

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Well if you count in the percentage of INFPs out there I'd be surprised if it was even 5%. I'm just matching things together. Wasn't it the INFPs who experience depression the most?

I honestly don't remember, sigh.
Did we have a thread here about it, ever?

I'm just saying usually when I run across cutters, the bulk seems to be teen girls of F variety, who are full of conflicted values, self-loathing, and powerlessness. Even ISFJs cut themselves. That "body image" thing hits teenage girls hard.

I never cut until well into adulthood, and because I felt very very locked into a vise... I was under a lot of pressure from family to be something I was not, and it was killing me, but to change what I was doing was seemingly impossible and terrifying... so... I started to cut myself.
 

cascadeco

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I think it could happen to any type if the circumstances are right. For some people it's a coping mechanism, a release of intense emotions that seem too difficult to handle any other way. It's a sort of tunnel vision behaviour, people doing it are only thinking about the relief they get as a result.

Agree; I don't know that it's hugely tied to type (I'm sure you could find examples of any of the types doing it), but maybe there are general trends.

fwiw, my INTP brother did it off and on while he was depressed/becoming suicidal (although none of us knew this was going on until after the fact), and a bit afterwards once he was on meds (probably roughly age 18-22, although I don't know when he started/stopped..just somewhere in there).
 

Oaky

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I honestly don't remember, sigh.
Did we have a thread here about it, ever?

I'm just saying usually when I run across cutters, the bulk seems to be teen girls of F variety, who are full of conflicted values, self-loathing, and powerlessness. Even ISFJs cut themselves. That "body image" thing hits teenage girls hard.
Yes, true. I know a few cutters who were quite depressed. They want to feel physical pain in order to remove mental pain. And Introverted feelers usually have to deal with that mental pain the most.

I never cut until well into adulthood, and because I felt very very locked into a vise... I was under a lot of pressure from family to be something I was not, and it was killing me, but to change what I was doing was seemingly impossible and terrifying... so... I started to cut myself.
Very upsetting... Depression certainly is a problem. All I can say is that there is a problem and as long as it's a problem it can be fixed. One just has to find out how. I doubt cutting yourself will really fix it.
 

ubiquitous1

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Thank you all for your insight. While speaking with a friend today she told me her 15-year-old daughter had been cutting herself. Her daughter is currently in group therapy and has stopped cutting herself. However, I thought maybe her daughter might feel less self-loathing (if that is why people cut themselves) if her way of perceiving the world was validated through type. To those of you who have experienced this, did learning about your type help you in anyway? Thank You
 

MonkeyGrass

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My introversion, at least, has something to do with self-harming impulse. My weak sensing probably contributes.

I'm not really interested in punishing myself, I like me just fine. :heart: I burn myself on rare occasion, and not badly. Mostly, it's about carrying a lot of emotional tension without physical release without realizing it, some major/minor thing triggering me going over the edge of *needing* to release it, and me being unable to cry easily when I need to. :doh: For whatever reason, I can't cry. The endorphins are like a crazy drug.:blush:
 

Nonsensical

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I see cutting a plea for attention.

Or maybe it's just the 'emo/goth' revolution corrupting my perceptions.
 
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Phantonym

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I see cutting a plea for attention.

Or maybe it's just the 'emo/goth' revolution corrupting my perceptions.

It can be done for attention, but usually the cutters go to great lengths to hide their scars.
 

Halla74

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It can be done for attention, but usually the cutters go to great lengths to hide their scars.

Hmmm...like heroin junkies? Not being a smart ass. Serious. Heroin junkies will shoot up between their toes (as the legend goes) to avoid detection.

This to me seems like manifestation of shame, which is essentially the state of one's mind/heart/spirtit/whatever disagreeing with one's actions.

I've never been tempted to cut myself, thank God. My friend, Mark, cut himself in the past. It was a very rare vent, and I could not detect a pattern in it, and it disappeared as a behavior shortly after I spoke with him about it. When I asked him about his wound, he told me that he had done it to himself. I said "Mark, do you realize that if someone cut you, I would beat them down where they stood? And I know if you saw someone cut/stab me that you would rush to my defense. Why do you do this to yourself? Please tell me."

He really didn't have a good reason, most of it was because he wanted to show someone else how much he hated a specific situation between the two of them. I told him that made no sense to me, but that I wasn't judging him, only that I was saddened as his friend to see his body injured and to know that he was the cause of it.

I did not think he was suicidal, he did not fit the profile at all. If I thought he was I would have dragged him to the psych ward and got him checked in, and let him figure out if her hated me over the rest of our lives.

It's not to be taken lightly. I hope things work out.
 

ubiquitous1

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My introversion, at least, has something to do with self-harming impulse. My weak sensing probably contributes.

I'm not really interested in punishing myself, I like me just fine. :heart: I burn myself on rare occasion, and not badly. Mostly, it's about carrying a lot of emotional tension without physical release without realizing it, some major/minor thing triggering me going over the edge of *needing* to release it, and me being unable to cry easily when I need to. :doh: For whatever reason, I can't cry. The endorphins are like a crazy drug.:blush:

Wow, that is interesting. I never would have thought someone would cut in order get a rush from endorphins. I can relate though to the inability to cry, when I was younger this was also a problem for me. Although I could always cry when ever I watched Disney movies! :huh:
 

ubiquitous1

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I see cutting a plea for attention.

Or maybe it's just the 'emo/goth' revolution corrupting my perceptions.


My friend's daughter concealed her cuts.So, in her case, I don't think she did it for attention. She is, however, the stereotypical "emo".
 

compulsiverambler

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I've never even felt the urge to do that, even when suicidal. Just doesn't enter my mind. Isn't there a single gene that makes rats or mice harm themselves when under stress? I think they had this gene spliced into their DNA, and they bit themselves a lot. Could be a single gene in humans, too.
 
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