People do not cut for one reason and one reason only. Different people cut for different reasons, and no one case is alike. I believe there are many reasons for this self-mutilation, whether it be problems from childhood, hatred towards one's self, or even as an outlet for anger or frustration. You see and read a lot more about self-mutilation in today's media, this might be another reason people cut themselves, sort of a "monkey see, monkey do" act.
Many cutters are trying to vent many different feelings through their cutting and other forms of self-mutilation. Some people might be trying to punish themselves because of a great feeling of guilt from horrible acts that have been done to them in past years. They tell themselves, "I must be a horrible person for people doing this to me". Many children who are physically and sexually abused feel this way. As a child they do not understand that it is their fault, and as they get older they still blame themselves. In other cases young children subject to physical and sexual abuse associate the pain with home and comfort, especially those who were hurt by those they loved. They feel empty without the pain, and sometimes the physical pain is the only way they can feel comfort because they integrated pain and comfort with each other.
Still others might just be doing it for attention. From personal experience I know of two friends who self-mutilated for this reason. They felt the need to tell everyone and show everyone what they had done to themselves. I believe they saw it on television and felt that if fictitious characters could get attention by doing this then they could to. I also noticed that when they did cut, it was not deep or even that many in number. They needed help, but the only way they could do that was mimicking a false reality.
I believe another reason people cut themselves is out of sheer anger for themselves. They hate themselves so much because of being neglected or being a scape goat in their early life.
