Discussion is it weird if i like looking at my own cuts, but hate looking at other people's cuts online?

[Leonard_Bangley39]

once i made the mistake of searching shtwt on twitter and all the deep cuts and gashes and even some sections just peeled off made me so uneasy and uncomfortable. i don't like thinking about it.

but when i used to cut, i loved looking at my styros. sometimes they would turn out bigger than i anticipated and that would sometimes make we worried. but the ones that were just small steps that went no deeper than the dermis looked almost kinda nice. i would even take pictures of them while i did it back then. i still have them saved on my phone

 

[Autumn Blaze]

I have a hard time looking at stuff like that myself on SHtwt, something about the gashes of other people makes me squirm. When I used to look there, sometimes people would have really really deep cuts to the point I'd actually get really concerned and uneasy, too, so I get it.
I think the main difference is you have control over your own cuts and wound care, and you don't with other people's, so you don't know if they'll be okay. Like there is no certainty in your brain about how it'll heal with people over there sometimes, and that kind of anxiety gets to me, I dunno if it's the same for you!

 

[apearl]

(coming from someone who cuts that has read a lot about NSSI)
It's probably a good sign that seeing other people's sh still upsets you. I'm not a psychologist but my guess is that you haven't became emotionally numb to it in the way you have with your own injuries. When people rely on self-harm as a coping mechanism for a long time, they can start viewing it less as an injury and more as something functional or relieving. That feedback loop with time can reduce the natural alarm response toward your own cuts.

But if seeing someone else's injuries still feels disturbing to you, that suggests your natural instincts to injuries for others is still intact.

This is good, you want to keep that empathy. Don't desensitize yourself.

 

[Sardenain]

I would also guess that sometimes it is easier to have empathy towards other people than yourselves. With own scars, that point has been reached gradually and thus isn't that shocking. When seeing other peoples cuts, their suffering is laid bare immediately without soft leading. And even if you know that they are suffering, self harm is still quite a step.