# Why do we hurt ourselves

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hurt-ourselves/86559>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 10, 2001, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hurt-ourselves/86559 "2001-10-10T13:03:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hurt-ourselves/86559/1 "2001-10-10T13:03:23Z")

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Why is it when I have a sour on my tounge, I can’t leave that mother alone? That goes for anything; scrape the roof of your mouth and you just have to agitate it. Some people do nastier things (scabs… yuck), but why do people do this?

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**Author:** ![sirjamesp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@sirjamesp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirjamesp)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hurt-ourselves/86559/2 "2001-10-10T13:10:59Z")

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Picking scabs - I know exactly why I do it. I do it so I can do it again.

And why do I want to do it again? Obvious. So I can do it yet again.

And why…

Oh dear.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Zambezi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mr.Zambezi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Zambezi)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-hurt-ourselves/86559/3 "2001-10-10T15:57:33Z")

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My WAG: anxiety. Just like smoking or tapping a pen. IT gives some sense of control. THere is probably some primal reason as well