Fran, a fifty-three year old mother from New York describes her cutting next. She says, "Cutting without drawing blood is like having salad and yogurt instead of steak and potatoes." Fran lives in one of New York's most exclusive neighborhoods, with snotty rich neighbors who look down upon such things as self-harm. She's been burning and cutting herself ever since she was 23, which would mean that she has been facing her on going struggle with self-destruction for over 30 years, but, there have been 9-month periods in between in which she has been able to stop. During these 9-month periods she went through her two successful pregnancies. Most self-injureres have all the desire to stop, but they've just become so addicted to harming themselves that they can't just get up and stop all together at once. Fran, on the other hand, has no desire whatsoever to overcome her self-harm. As she looks at the scars on her arms she sees them as "patchwork quilts." Things once got so out of hand that Fran ended up having to get a skin graft as a result of her burning her arm so badly. She's been in and out of the emergency room countless times, requiring stitches for her cuts in most cases. Once she cuts, Fran sometimes finds herself drawing pictures with the blood that has seeped out, including Stars of David, swastikas, and the numbers "666."
I don't get how she can stop for 9 months and be fine, and now start again. Its kind of attention seeking to me, even though it is a hidden act. She should look to things like her kids as a reason not to cut.
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