4 Quotes by Marilee Strong

You don't feel like you're hurting yourself when you're cutting. You feel like this is the only way to take care of yourself.

You don’t feel like you’re hurting yourself when you’re cutting. You feel like this is the only way to take care of yourself.

When they hurt themselves, they become the literal embodiment of all the people who have abused and hurt them – who have crushed their spirits and murdered their souls. They cling to cutting because they believe it is the only way they can be in control of their lives and their feelings. Yet, it is more symbolic of the absence of control. They are carrying on a devastating legacy, yielding the control to their abuses, letting them win.

In addition to being a life-sustaining and sanity-maintaining way of managing inner states, cutting is a primitive yet powerful form of communication for people unable to adequately verbalize their feelings. Self-mutilation provides concrete expression for the pain they feel inside – a language written on the body, through blood, wounds, and scars.