Cutting Addiction: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

Cutting addiction is an act of harming one’s skin by using sharp objects without the intention of suicide. It is an impulsive disorder common in adolescents aged 12-19 years. 

According to Gillies, D.’s 2018 study, ‘Prevalence and Characteristics of Self-Harm in Adolescents: Meta-Analyses of Community-Based Studies 1990-2015’, cutting represents 45% of all self-harm behaviors in adolescents. The overall lifetime prevalence of self-harm reached 16.9% among adolescents, with rates increasing through 2015. Adolescents typically begin self-harming at age 13, with girls exhibiting significantly higher rates (risk ratio 1.72). Nearly half (47%) of self-harming adolescents reported only one or two episodes. The most frequent motivation for cutting involves relief from distressing thoughts or feelings.

The signs and symptoms of cutting addiction include unexplained cuts, scars, mood swings, and relationship difficulties. An individual can develop cutting addiction due to emotional dysregulation, family problems, mental health issues, and substance abuse. 

Causes of cutting addiction include emotional dysregulation, experiences of abuse, mental health issues, substance abuse, and the influence of friends who engage in self-harm. These factors contribute to an individual’s inability to cope with stress and emotions, often leading to self-injurious behaviors as a means of expression or distraction from internal pain.

Effects of cutting include bleeding, bruising, permanent scarring, infection, and general mental distress, particularly anxiety and depression. Physical health suffers through excessive blood loss, nerve damage, and potential gangrene, while mental health is impacted by feelings of unworthiness and loneliness. Adolescents are especially vulnerable due to ongoing brain development, which affects emotional regulation and impulse control.

Types of cutting addiction treatment include psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, medications, support groups, family therapy, mindfulness practices, and lifestyle changes.

What Is Cutting Addiction?

Cutting addiction is a type of self-harm where an individual repeatedly harms themselves on purpose in an impulsive but non-lethal way, as defined by the Mental Health America organization.  

Cutting addiction, a type of non-suicidal self-injury, is to intentionally destroy one’s body tissue without suicidal intent, according to the book ‘Understanding non-suicidal self-injury: Origins, assessment, and treatment’ written by Matthew K. Nock from Harvard University in 2009.

What Is the Difference Between Cutting Addiction and Self Harm?

The difference between cutting addiction and self-harm is that cutting addiction is a type of self-harm where an individual cuts themselves on purpose without the intention of suicide. Whereas self-harm occurs when an individual harms themselves through different ways like cutting, burning, head banging, inserting objects in the body, and drug abuse in the absence of suicidal intent.

What Is the Relation Between Cutting Addiction and Suicide?

There is a positive relationship between cutting addiction and suicide. Individuals who engage in self-harm, like cutting, have an elevated risk of suicide compared to non-self-harming suicidal individuals.

According to Gillies, D.’s 2018 study, ‘Prevalence and Characteristics of Self-Harm in Adolescents: Meta-Analyses of Community-Based Studies 1990-2015’, adolescents who self-harm demonstrate significantly elevated suicidal risks compared to non-self-harming peers. Specifically, these adolescents exhibit higher rates of suicidal ideation (risk ratio 4.97) and suicide attempts (risk ratio 9.14). The suicide risk increases substantially with more frequent self-harm behaviors. This connection between self-harm and suicidality remains particularly concerning since only about half of self-harming adolescents seek help, and those who do primarily turn to friends rather than mental health professionals.

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What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Cutting Addiction?

The signs and symptoms of cutting addiction include unexplained cuts, owning unnecessary sharp objects, wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants, frequently reporting accidental injuries, having excessive skin scars, experiencing mood swings, and facing relationship difficulties.

Here are the signs and symptoms of cutting addiction in detail below:

• Unexplained Cuts: An unexplained cut is a break or opening in the skin. Unexplained cuts are the most critical sign of cutting addiction. The individual is frequently covered in bandages or shows up with cut injuries. A cutting addict justifies their unexplained cuts with unbelievable and made-up stories.  
• Owning Unnecessary Sharp Objects: A sharp object is any object that tends to puncture or lacerate the skin. Individuals with cutting addiction use sharp objects like razors, scissors, and knives, which are found in unusual places like a purse, drawer, or other hidden areas. Other common sharp objects are glass shards, box cutters, and pins. 
• Wearing Long-Sleeved Shirts and Long Pants: Long-sleeved shirts and long pants are the apparel that fully cover both arms and legs. A sign of cutting addiction is that individuals with cutting addiction wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants to hide the cuts or bruises, even in hot weather. Cutting addicts, like any other behavioral addict, have a habit of hiding their cuts from family and friends. 
• Frequent Reports of Accidental Injury: An accidental injury is a sudden, unintended, unforeseen, and unexpected event resulting in injury to a person and property. Individuals with cutting addiction report having an accidental injury, like falling, hitting a pole, or accidentally cutting during kitchen chores, on a regular basis. These injuries occur regularly without a known cause.
• Excessive Skin Scars: A scar is the body’s natural way of healing and replacing lost or damaged skin. Individuals with cutting addiction have excessive scars on their arms, thighs, chest, and almost everywhere on the body. A skin cut heals naturally by growing new tissue and filling in the gaps the wound leaves. It then converts into a thick fibrous tissue called a scar. 
• Mood Swings: Mood swings are sudden, intense changes of feelings from happiness to sadness or vice versa. Individuals with cutting addiction experience frequent mood swings along with feelings of anxiety and depression. The prevalence of self-harm is higher in individuals with emotional dysregulation and depression, according to a study, “Self-Harm, Affective Traits, and Psychosocial Functioning in Adults With Depressive and Bipolar Disorders,” published in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease in 2017.
• Relationship Difficulties: Relationship difficulties mean the failure to manage the differences between two people and a loss of sense of affection. 

What Are the Causes of Cutting Addiction?

The causes of cutting addiction are emotional dysregulation, abuse victim and family problems, mental health issues, substance abuse, and friends with cutting addiction. 

Here are the causes of cutting addiction in detail below:

• Emotional Dysregulation: Emotion dysregulation is an individual’s inability to control or regulate their emotional responses to a stimulus. Individuals who are unable to cope with stress and emotions in a healthy way resort to self-harm, like cutting. According to a study by Elin Anita Fadum et al. published in the BMJ Journals in 2021, cutting is a destructive way for young individuals to express their emotions or distract themselves from internal pain, and those with self-harm tendencies, such as cutting addiction, exhibit greater emotional dysregulation and aggression compared to others.
• Abuse Victim and Family Problems: The Experience of sexual, physical, and emotional assault, like domestic violence and an unstable family environment, causes cutting addiction. The most frequent problems of self-harm activities, like cutting, in adolescents are due to family problems, according to a study authored by Ellen Townsend et al. and published in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health journal in 2022. 
• Mental Health Issues: Self-critical people with poor problem-solving skills are at increased risk of cutting addiction because they’re unable to manage their emotions in stressful situations. According to a study by Sheila K. Marshall et al. in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence and another study by Milton Brown et al. in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, individuals with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder have a higher likelihood of experiencing non-suicidal self-injury events like cutting.
• Substance Abuse: People with substance addiction are prone to self-cutting due to their inability to manage their emotions. They resort to other types of addictions, like cutting addiction, to gain pleasure through dopamine highs.  
• Friends with Cutting Addiction: Having friends with cutting addiction increases the risk of an individual’s risk of engaging in self-harm activities like cutting.

What Are the Effects of Cutting Addiction?

The effects of cutting addiction are bleeding and bruising, permanent scarring, infection, and general mental distress, according to the studies published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, JPRAS Open, and WHO. 

Here are the main effects of cutting addiction in detail below:

• Bleeding and Bruising: Bleeding is the loss of blood from the circulatory system due to damaged blood vessels, while bruising is blood under the skin after an injury. The effect of cutting addiction is bleeding and bruising due to damage to blood vessels.
• Scarring: A scar is a fibrous tissue that forms when normal tissue is destroyed by disease, injury, or surgery. Individuals with cutting addiction sometimes get permanent scars due to unhealthy healing of the skin tissue. According to Burke, T. A.’s 2020 study, ‘Nonsuicidal self-injury scar concealment from the self and others, ’ approximately 55% of individuals with a history of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) bear permanent scarring. Among those with NSSI scars, 56.5% have 2-5 scars, while 26.6% have 6 or more scars. The study revealed that individuals conceal their scars from others (mean score 3.31/4) more frequently than from themselves (mean score 2.67/4). Notably, 51.8% of participants with NSSI scarring reported seeking professional treatment specifically related to their scars.
• Infection: Frequent cuts lead to infected wounds because germs like viruses and bacteria enter through them. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tetanus and sepsis are acquired through an infection of a cut or wound.  
• General Mental Distress: The effect of cutting addiction on mental health is general distress that encompasses anxiety, depression, antisocial and psychotic symptoms, OCD, and low self-esteem. A study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders by Paul Oliver Wilkinson et al. in 2022 found a greater incidence of general distress in young people aged 14-25 years who engage in non-suicidal self-injury activities like cutting addiction. 

How Does Cutting Addiction Affect Your Physical Health?

Cutting addiction affects your physical health due to bleeding, bruising, infection, permanent scarring, gangrene, nerve damage, and injured muscles, tendons, and blood vessels. 

Frequent cutting causes too much blood loss and results in permanent scarring. Deep cuts damage nerves, leading to permanent weakness, numbness, or even loss of movement. Furthermore, cuts cause infections like tetanus and blood infections if they’re not treated adequately. If the infection persists and gangrene forms, amputation occurs.

How Does Cutting Addiction Affect Your Mental Health?

Cutting addiction affects your mental health due to feelings of unworthiness, loneliness, and destroyed relationships. These feelings of unworthiness and loneliness result in anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts, as mentioned by Matthew Nock and Armaruio Favazza in their book published by the American Psychological Association.

How Does Cutting Addiction Affect Your Brain?

Cutting addiction and other non-suicidal self-injuries affects your brain due to overactivation in the fronto-limbic system of the brain, which includes the amygdala, according to a study “Advancing a temporal framework for understanding the biology of nonsuicidal self-injury: An expert review” published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews in 2021. Self-injury, like cutting skin, decreases stress in the amygdala and increases the amount of dopamine in the brain, according to a study by Patrice van der Venne et al. published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. 

Adolescents are vulnerable to cutting addiction because their emotional distress and physical pain neural pathways have been altered due to their ongoing brain development changes, leading to emotional dysregulation and poor impulse control, according to a study by Elizabeth Ballard et al. published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence in 2009.

What Are the Types of Cutting Addiction Treatment?

The types of cutting addiction treatment are psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, medications, support groups, family therapy, mindfulness practices, and lifestyle changes. Although there is no time frame for recovering from cutting addiction, it takes an average of 1-3 months to witness positive results. 

Here are the common types of cutting addiction treatment:

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy encompasses a broad range of treatment protocols for psychological disorders focused on verbal communication and interaction. According to Bahji, A.’s 2021 study, ‘Comparative efficacy and acceptability of psychotherapies for self-harm and suicidal behavior among children and adolescents: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.’, specific psychotherapeutic interventions demonstrated measurable effectiveness in treating self-harm behaviors among adolescents. Dialectical behavioral therapy reduced self-harm significantly at treatment completion, while mentalization-based therapy showed similar efficacy for decreasing self-harm behaviors at follow-up. The study analyzed 44 randomized clinical trials with 5,406 participants from 1995 to 2020, with 76% of participants being female. Treatment typically lasted 3 months with follow-up extending to 12 months. These findings highlight the clinical effectiveness of structured psychotherapeutic approaches for addressing self-harm behaviors, particularly DBT and MBT.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that challenges negative thoughts about self and the world to help foster positive thoughts. Cognitive behavioral therapy and problem-solving therapy help individuals enhance positive orientation and reduce avoidance of stress in life problems. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the best treatment intervention in cutting addiction, a type of non-suicidal self-injury, according to a study by Jennifer J. Muehlenkamp published in the Journal of Mental Health Counseling in 2006. 

Medications

Medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) help treat behavioral addictions. However, there is no evidence proving its effectiveness in treating cutting addiction or non-suicidal self-injury in general, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published by Vincent Eggart et al. in 2022 in the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience.  

Support Groups

Support groups are groups of people facing the same challenges and providing emotional comfort and encouragement to each other. Cutting addiction, like any other behavioral addiction is improved through the right support groups. However, there are no global support groups for cutting addiction.

Family Therapy

Family therapy is a type of group psychotherapy that focuses on improving the relationships and behaviors within a family. Family therapy treats an insecure parental attachment, which is a root cause of adolescent cutting addiction. Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) and Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) increase the accessibility and responsiveness of parents to their children, ensuring a secure base to foster behavioral changes.

Mindfulness Practices

Mindfulness is defined as a non-judgmental acceptance and awareness of the present moment. Mindfulness is a part of dialectical behavioral therapy, which is an effective treatment for cutting addiction. It reduces the urge to cut oneself by improving emotional regulation and distress tolerance.

Lifestyle Changes

Lifestyle changes help treat cutting addiction by improving the quality of life of an individual. Exercise has been found to channel negative energies and reduce the urge to engage in cutting activities, as found in a study published by E. David Klonsky and Catherine Glenn in the Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy Journal in 2008. 

How Do You Tell if Someone Is Cutting?

You tell if someone is cutting through unexplained cuts or abrasions, strange scars, blood on a person’s belongings, and unusual covering of the skin. 

Here are some detailed ways to tell if someone has a cutting addiction:

• Unexplained Cuts or Abrasions: Frequent cuts or bandages on arms, chest, thighs, or other easily reachable body areas indicate that someone is cutting.
• Strange Scars: Observing unusual scars on reachable parts of the body, whether fresh or old, suggests that someone is engaging in cutting.
• Blood on a Person’s Belongings: Discovering blood stains on hand towels, clothing, bags, or other personal belongings without proper justification, as well as finding blood-soaked tissues in the trash can, are significant signs of self-injury.
• Covering the Skin: Individuals with a cutting addiction consistently wear long sleeves and long pants, even in hot weather, to conceal scars or wounds from others.

Is Cutting Addiction a Type of Self-Harm?

Yes, cutting addiction is a type of self-harm without suicidal intent. Non-suicidal self-harm or injury is intentionally destroying one’s skin or body without the intent to die, as defined by Annarosa Cipriano et al. in a systematic review found in Frontiers in Psychology. 

Can Teens Suffer a Cutting Addiction Withdrawal?

Yes, teens suffer a cutting addiction withdrawal because their body is used to the dopamine high felt after cutting skin, just like any other addiction. The symptoms of cutting addiction withdrawal include irritability, poor sleep, anxiety, cravings, tiredness, and shakiness. 

Is Cutting Addiction a Type of Behavioral Addiction?

Yes, cutting is a type of behavioral addiction because an individual compulsively engages in an activity like cutting. However, it has not been formally added to the types of behavioral addiction. 

Is Cutting Addiction a Disease?

Yes, cutting addiction is a disease. Cutting addiction is a type of non-suicidal self-injury, which is a recognized disorder according to the DSM-5 2013 model.

Is Cutting Addiction Genetic?

Yes, cutting addiction is genetic. Cutting addiction, a non-suicidal self-injury, has a moderate genetic predisposition, as found by a study published by ‪Dominique Maciejewski‬ et al. in JAMA Psychiatry in 2014.

Why Is Cutting so Addictive for Teens?

Cutting is addictive for teens because they are unable to regulate and cope with deep-seated emotions. Since teens experience impulsive behaviors and emotional dysregulation frequently, they have a greater risk of getting addicted to cutting.

Is Cutting Addiction a Choice?

Cutting addiction is not a choice since non-suicidal self-injury is a mental disorder. Anyone can suffer from cutting addiction, but it is more common in adolescents.  

Do Cutting Scars Ever Go Away?

Cutting scars fade over time, but they rarely disappear completely. Their visibility depends on factors like skin type, depth of the scars, and treatments used.

How Do You Cope with Cutting?

Coping with cutting involves finding healthier ways to manage emotions and stress, such as talking to a therapist, journaling, or practicing mindfulness.

How To Find Cutting Addiction Treatment In New Jersey?

To find cutting addiction treatment in New Jersey, start by consulting with a mental health professional such as a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist who specializes in self-harm behaviors. Many facilities like Right Choice Recovery offer comprehensive treatment programs that include psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and family therapy specifically designed for cutting addiction.