Alyssa Walsh

“The nerves of the skin send pain signals to the brain to warn us of the danger from and impending injury. In the case of self-inflicted wounding, this pain acts as the body's own defense mechanism to stop one from proceeding in the effort at physical injury. If a person proceeds despite the pain, that means that he or she is motivated by something stronger than the pain, something that makes him or her capable of ignoring or enduring it.”
― Steven Levenkron

“What I wanted was a simple response. I didn’t want to feel, that was too difficult. I wanted to hurt, I wanted real, tangible, physical pain. That I could understand.”
― Victoria Leatham, Bloodletting: A Memoir of Secrets, Self-Harm, and Survival

“I didn’t feel that I had any good qualities. Or rather, none were good enough. Nothing I did or said was good enough, but I couldn’t make anyone understand the way I felt.”
― Victoria Leatham, Bloodletting: A Memoir of Secrets, Self-Harm, and Survival

“Abuse manipulates and twists a child’s natural sense of trust and love. Her innocent feelings are belittled or mocked and she learns to ignore her feelings. She can’t afford to feel the full range of feelings in her body while she’s being abused—pain, outrage, hate, vengeance, confusion, arousal. So she short-circuits them and goes numb. For many children, any expression of feelings, even a single tear, is cause for more severe abuse. Again, the only recourse is to shut down. Feelings go underground.”
― Laura Davis, Allies in Healing: When the Person You Love Was Sexually Abused as a Child