I’m wondering if a friend of mine is cutting, but I would like the warning signs of it to make sure, and I’ve been having tons of problems trying to find them on the internet. Can I get some help here? thanks.
crystal
Cutting as in auto-mutulation?
Just making sure.
define cutting?
Sorry to hear about you problems crystalgrl. I’ve no personal experience of this (thank whomever), but I’ve found these links, hope some of them help. There are some people on the board with personal knowledge of this problem (I’ll look for some threads), maybe they’ll be around soon.
http://www.selfinjury.freeserve.co.uk/
http://www.palace.net/~llama/psych/self.html
http://www.angelsinnight.org/tips/cutting_toc.asp
http://www.save.org/student.shtml
http://www.duxburyfreelibrary.org/yamentalhealth/helplines.html
There are many more if you put self injury into http://www.google.com.
Keep your head up 
Yes please do - I followed this from the closed thread inMPSIMS just to find out what cutting is.
My 1st guess would be cutting people in a line to get in/served faster - but doesn’t make sense here.
Then I was thinking about cocaine - still a possibliity but i must admit I don’t know squat about the drug culture
Coldfire has a good one too
I would think cutting oneself would be obvious if you can see her w/o cloths covering the areas that are cut.
As for cocaine (or other drug) - there are drug kits you can get that helps parrents find out if their kids are using.
Just ask them if they are a cutter. The shortest route is a direct question.
The archives here should have alot on this subject though.
Crystalgrl, as a former “cutter” (I prefer the term “self-injury”), I second yojimbo’s recommendation of Bodies Under Seige:
http://www.palace.net/~llama/psych/injury.html
(I have linked you to the main page)
For all those needing a definition, the Bodies Under Seige site provides what I consider to be a good “What Is Self-harm” article, including the varying types of self-harm. There is also a large (several hundred members) email group there for people who self-injure and their friends. It helped me a whole lot back when I needed it.
As for your friend, I can’t give you any specific advice since I don’t know you or your friend well enough and can’t say what would work best for both of you.
And Handy? It may be the shortest route, but it’s not necessarily the best. A direct question is as likely to get a denial as it is an affirmation, and could cause her to withdraw rather than open up.
Fran
crystalgrl, i have no advice, as i am unfamiliar with this sort of thing, but i just wanted to tell you your friend is in my thoughts and prayers. you are a good friend to be concerned.
An ex of mine was very active on the BUS community, and I think that it did hirm a great deal of good.
Yeah, I used to “cut” quite frequently, but now I don’t do it very often.
If you need some personal information, send me an e-mail.