Self-Injury and Aspergers

I can only surmise from my own personal experience and truths told by Aspie friends, but self-injury appears to be very common with Aspies. I have to wonder if it is due to our difficulty in clarifying and expressing our emotions. It seems that as we repress and surpress our intense feelings, that a catalyst triggers a mini-explosion of strong, intense emotion that we deal with through self-injury.

Having practiced self-injury for many years, I can say that it would occur when the chamber in which I stuffed the emotions, overflowed and overwhelmed me to the point that self-injury was a most viable and appealing option. It seemed to happen, frequently when I lived alone and had no one to talk to and confide in. No outlet means more opportunity. Since that dark period of time, I have learned to vent my emotions in less painful ways.

I began writing, in most graphic words and terms, about things, peoples ad situations that upset me. I started teaching my self curse words and how to swear. One of the more challenging aspects that needed learning...I had to figure out how to yell and raise my voice. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, it is completely unnatural and foreign to raise my voice to a shout. It's as if I had to give myself permission to do so. Once that skill was learned, it became so much easier to vent and release some of the anger and hurt.

The other aspect that was helpful, was finding my Partner and a couple of friends with whom I could genuinely express how I felt, good or bad, through tears or screams. Like a soft pillow of comfort, my emotions went from raging and rampant to manageable and okay. Relationships softened the emotional blows and allowed me to get in touch with the chaos of my feelings.

Outsiders freak out when one talks about self-abuse. It's not the end of the world and it can be challenging to control. I learned, taught myself ways to avoid it, so I know it can be done. Emotional pain can lead to self-injury. Treat the source of the pain and self-injury stops.

Be good to yourself.