Thank you for writing this blog and addressing the issue of people writing about things they have no idea about. To be deemed real or fake is just unacceptable and in my eyes, someone who harms themselves have plausable and reasons that shouldn't be labelled.
@ Valiente I'm bi polar and suffer severe anxiety, which affects my outlook on life. I don't necessary self harm by cutting, but I have been known to attack myself in other ways just as severe. Please do not label me or anyone else who supposedly harms out of attention, because obviously something is wrong with them to stoop so low. If I wanted attention I would do something outrageous in the eyes of my peers... I wouldn't self-harm unless there was other reasons behind it.
Sorry about the rant, but this topic has always been something that pisses me off when people are clueless to the facts.
@ Valiente You think this is all about your article, but it isn't. If you want to discuss your article, lets do it on your article page, not about my journal that mentions something about an article once. My journal is about a lot more than just your article.
And just because you didn't say "all" doesn't mean it wasn't implied. To be honest, that article was incredibly short and lacking a lot of information, just your own personal narrative, which generally isn't an acceptable basis for an academic article.
@ Valiente My family has known me for my entire life and they didn't know I was mentally ill. And I myself didn't realise it was an actual illness. They could already have a mental illness and not be able to understand their own emotions. And just because you know those people doesn't mean that theory applies to every single person.
And my other problem with the whole 'fake' cutters thing (not necessary applying to you) is that if you hide your scars, you shouldn't be ashamed of who you are, but if they're just a bit visable you're immeadiatly branded as an attention seeker.
@ Valiente Again, cutting for attention means that you are so screwed up you cut yourself for attention. That IS NOT sane behavior.
Many people who have carried on conversations with me were not aware of my cuts/scars at the time, the fact that I was suicidal, or the fact that I was Bipolar. Talking to someone doesn't mean you know their medical history.
@ little motorkitty; I've talked to them. I've carried on many conversations with them. I've known most of them since elementary school. And they've admitted to cutting for attention
I second Amy's question, too. How do you know they're mentally stable? Did their mental health professional disclose that information to you or do you have a medical degree?
@ Valiente Did I mention you by name? No. These are things on Mibba that pissed me off TODAY, it doesn't mean I haven't seen the same crappy allegations against mentally ill people before. Your article simply reminded me of how much I hate that stuff.
And, for the record, calling something "fake" is saying it's not real. You're saying that cutters who cut for a certain reason aren't "real" cutters otherwise they wouldn't have been called "fake" in your article.
People who cut for attention do need as much help as everyone else. And half the people who are judged as 'doing it for attention' don't, it's just that everyone is so ignorant about the subject.
When I wrote the article, I was going by what I've observed. I've noticed that a lot of the people that cut for attention are mentally stable and that they just want people to look at them. I never once said that nothing was wrong with them. Besides, I'm not the first one who's said something like this, so why jump all over my ass?