I don't cut. I've tried. I just cant get the courage to bring a razor onto my skin and actually cause myself to bleed purposefully. However, my friend cuts. I found out through an online journal she keeps.. but i know if she didn't have that journal or if i hadn't read her entry i would have found out anyway. i saw the cuts on her arm the next day. I told her i wanted to help. I wanted her to stop... it scared me. i understood why she would cut... her mother is very overprotective and she has lots of rules, and cant see her friends very much. but i still knew there were other ways of dealing. i started talking to her about it. but still it got worse. she stopped wearing short sleeves, but when she rolled them up, i would see the cuts, they were deeper, longer, and looking worse then id ever seen them. i kept making up plans to get her to stop. she wanted to... she just didn't know if she could. i put limits on how much she cut and encouraged her as much as i could. but deep down i knew that my 'plans' couldn't do anything. the words might help... but it was mostly her will power that would get her to stop. i told her that, and she said she didn't have much willpower, but that she would try. she started talking about cutting a lot, her online screen names changed to something to do with cutting, her profile was filled with things about cutting, and her icons were cutting... she talked about it to me, and to her other friends. it was like she was crying for help... at least that's what it seemed to me. This week she is in a different state with her dad. she knows she has no point to cut there, she really only cuts at home. her dad is great, i know this. i've been up there. she can live like a normal teenager up there. i told her, try to cut only once or twice. i don't know if she did. She did mention that she cuts on her legs now. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm worried she will cut too much and lose blood, or that she will end up trying to kill herself. i guess i'm just going to try to keep trying, and she will keep trying. I know what its like to not really be happy.. i feel empty too. but bleeding doesn't really help for me. i guess it does for my friend, and for many others. i can see why... some people say its like the bad feelings leave with the blood, or that it makes you feel alive to see your life coming out of your arm, leg, where ever. And i know this makes my friend happy, but i also know at the same time it makes her feel bad. so i guess we will just have to keep trying, and hold onto the hope that she can get better.