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Carol
91 Posts |
 Posted - 11/03/2004 : 18:05:21
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Tonight I happened to catch a Dr. Phil show on TV that made me sit up and listen! The subject of the show was people who mutilate themselves by cutting, pulling hair, even burning sometimes. The premise of this condition is that it is a way to deal with emotions, especially anger, which the sufferers feel are inappropriate. They say that the physical pain stops the emotional pain. It seems to be a form of OCD. I was struck by the similarity of TMS, which we somehow create in our bodies as a distraction, to these young people who consciously create physical pain as a distraction.
Is there anyone out there who has been a "cutter" as a teenager? That seems to be the most common time for this to surface. I did have a neighbor who confided to me after a suicide attempt that she frequently cut herself in order to deal with her emotions. She eventually succeeded in killing herself. I knew nothing about "cutting" at the time, and it was quite a shock to me!
Carol |
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mala
Hong Kong
774 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2004 : 20:15:41
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I met a French girl at a dinner party not too long ago. She is probably in her early thirties and has fibromyalgia and a lot of muscle pain. She said that there were times when her physical pain would be so bad that she would cut herself on her arms to get relief.
I guess the pain caused by cutting herself was an acceptable form of pain that would distract her from the pain caused by fibro.
She told me that she had had various treatments but nothing worked till she tried acupuncture.
Good Luck & Good Health
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klc183
11 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2004 : 22:44:00
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| This is an interesting topic. I am a psychologist and work with individuals who self-mutilate. My experience is that, like binging and purging, it is a way of "getting the pain out" because they do not have the skills, communication and otherwise, to get the pain out in a less painful way. I see the similarities in that it is a way of dealing with the pain, but for my my TMS is not a relief at all - it stiffles pain and emotional feelings. KLC |
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Suz
559 Posts |
Posted - 11/08/2004 : 13:29:05
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| I wonder if the cutting and binging/purging might just be another TMS equivalent. Instead of facing the terrible, painful emotions of rage and deep sadness, the person does something as a diversion of attention. The brain has decided it is too difficult to deal with the emotions - feelings of low self esteem/failure and deep rage that goes with it and so has caused a diversion behaviour. I used to have a mild version of bulimia and have not done that in a long time. I have been dealing with all the emotions for a while now and so the diversion is not needed any more |
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Dr. Phil
