How likely is it that someone who cuts themself has been sexually abused?

Question

How likely is it that someone who cuts themself has been sexually abused?

Answer 1

well... The statistic is that 1 out of every 3 people have been sexually abused as a child.  So.. its a minimum of 33.3333333333333%.

Answer 2

when people cut themselves, it's because for them it's a way to free the pain (yes feeling more pain), so, there is a possibility that a person who does that have ever being abused, but they can also be another type of trauma, like no founding his identity or something like that

Answer 3

Most likely

Answer 4

For someone who cuts themselves, it could be a series of different disorders, illnesses, stages of depression, different problems and not at all limited to sexual abuse. Personally I never got sexually abused but I self-harmed a lot in the past.

Now, sometimes it could depend on WHERE they cut themselves too though. If, for example, they cut themselves like on their b*****s or genital area then it could be a sign of sexual abuse as its sometimes hate to the sexual areas of their body. But this is not always true. People who suffer sexual abuse are scared to touch themselves or harm themselves in places like that so limit themselves to wrists and arms and such.

Also, when it comes to someone who's been cutting for years, in times like the summer when it comes to points where they would need to cover up their cuts they'd choose to cut in more covered areas like the abdomen(which would be hidden by bikini pants and such) so still, there's no indication that this could be a sign of sexual abuse.

If the sexual abuse is recent, then just look for bruising, discomfort when a person sits down, distrust of people who get too close.  

Answer 5

in this experiment (which is rather out dated) about 70%

http://www.palace.net/~llama/psych/diag....

I've also read more along the lines of half.  I tried google-and a lot of different things popped up...

I do know that there are plenty of people who self injure who have not been sexually abused

Answer 6

It's hard to say... Frankly, "cutting" is something I still have trouble getting my "head around..." Obviously the people who DO it- have serious "Issues" of SOME kind or other... -But whether it's reflective of One or Many, I'm not sure if anyone knows yet... It CERTAINLY is a tragic Condition... In a World where so many people are trying to RELIEVE their Pain in any way they can, it's a Sad commentary on Our Society- that some of Us are DRIVEN to Create what the REST of Us- avoid... :(

Answer 7

My sister used to cut herself and it was because she had mental issues.  Cutting herself was almost like a release of stress for her.  She was never sexually abused but she had some issues that she needed major help with.  She had gone to a doctor and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.  Someone who was sexually abused could certainly be looking for that "release" and could very well turn to cutting themselves.  There could be so many reasons why someone does that but bottom line, if you know someone who is cutting themselves, they really need to see a doctor to get to the bottom of why they do it.