March is self-harm awareness month, which is a topic very close to my heart that I always have, and probably always will feel very passionate about.

Given the platform that I have writing for The Odyssey, I wanted to use this time to bring awareness to the devastating issue that is self-harm. I wanted to find a way to break the horrible stigma that surrounds this illness, and I figured what better way than sharing personal stories from REAL people who have suffered/are suffering.

The worst part of it all was that finding people who were victims was way easier than I had anticipated. Almost too easy. And I think that sums up self-harm: it affects so many people. And it affects so many different people. I interviewed 6 different survivors all from completely different walks of life. These are their stories.

How old are you?

Victim 1: "I'm 18!"

Victim 2: "20."

Victim 3: "I am 19."

Victim 4: "I'm 18 currently."

Victim 5: "I'm 17 years old."

Victim 6: "I'm 19."

How old were you the first time you harmed yourself?

Victim 1: "I don't remember the exact age because that period of my life was a bit of a blur, but I believe I was 13 at the time."

Victim 2: "I was 13."

Victim 3: "I was 12 the first time I self-harmed."

Victim 4: "I started in 8th grade and cut for about 2 years."

Victim 5: "I was 13 when I first started self-harming."

Victim 6: "I was 14."

What was it like when your parents found out?

Victim 1: "My mom found out first. She right out asked me, and I couldn't lie to her. I remember begging her not to tell dad because I just didn't want them to worry about me more than they already had been. My dad was pretty upset, not at me but at the fact that his baby girl struggling. My parents were my biggest supporters through that time."

Victim 2: "A friend of mine casually brought it up to my mom many years later, assuming that she already knew. She didn't. She ended up asking me about it and even though it had been 3 years since the last time I did it, telling her what I did to myself to her face was the hardest thing I've ever done."

Victim 3: "My mom was very understanding and comforting. My dad didn't find out until I was a junior in high school when I hadn't self-harmed for 2 years at that point, and he and my stepmom made me feel like a freak. They told me that I am clearly not ready for college and to be on my own and they didn't understand why someone would ever see an appeal in harming themselves. They are more understanding of mental health now, but that was the first time they even found out that I was depressed (they often called me lazy)."

Victim 4: "My mom admitted me to [a mental hospital]."

Victim 5: "My parents still haven't found out."

Victim 6: "I was terrified and embarrassed. They were very afraid for me, and for a while, I distanced myself from them."

What was it like when your friends found out?

Victim 1: "When I realized what I had done the first time I cut, I immediately texted my best guy friend. As far as 13-year-old boys go, he was amazingly mature, and he instantly texted back and helped calm me down. My other friends weren't as calm about it; the second and third friends I told FREAKED out. They thought I was crazy for hurting myself. Because of that, I didn't tell most of my friends until years after I was clean."

Victim 2: "I barely remember telling my friends. We were all really young so there was a lot of shock, but no one really did anything."

Victim 3: "I honestly don't remember what it was like when my friends found out. I don't think anyone but my best friend knew and she wasn't exactly the type to make a big deal about that type of thing. She just made sure I knew she was there for me."

Victim 4: "My friends were disappointed in me and tried to get me to stop. Then for some reason 3 of my friends were like 'Oh, [she] does it, so I should try'. So that made me feel like shit because my intent was never to be an idol in that sense."

Victim 5: "I’ve only confided in a few friends. When they found out, they were disheartened but could not empathize as they had never been through the same thing."

Victim 6: "I did not want anybody to know. My friends saw and caught on quickly. I spent years covering it up and acting like I was done after that. They still knew, but I asked them not to speak to me about it. I over-exaggerated my well-being so they would not ask me. They all knew something was wrong, but I worked hard to show them otherwise. I think they were afraid for me, but I also think they were very freaked out."

How long has it been since the last time you harmed yourself?

Victim 1: "Thankfully it has been about 4 and a half years!"

Victim 2: "This is my 5th year clean."

Victim 3: "Unfortunately, the last time I self-harmed was 3 months ago, and it was the first time since my freshman year of high school. I hadn't been taking my medicine for a long time and on top of that, being home from school causes me to go back to the dark times of high school, so it has a harder toll on my mental health on top of me not taking my medicine. The only person I have told is my boyfriend and he held me while I cried and kissed my marks and told me things he loved about me all night long. The reaction he had immediately brought me down to reality and I realized I needed to change the way I was living and to start taking my medicine again."

Victim 4: "It's been about 2 years since I did."

Victim 5: "It's been 2 weeks since I last harmed myself."

Victim 6: "It has been somewhere around 6 months."

What's the hardest part about trying to stay clean?

Victim 1: "Now, being almost 5 years clean, it's not that difficult. However, when I first attempted to stop, the hardest part was trying to teach myself that I didn't deserve that pain and that hurting myself wasn't the only way to feel something."

Victim 2: "It's always tempting to relapse. No matter how much time passes, little things still trigger me. I think there will always be that urge."

Victim 3: "Honestly, the hardest part about staying clean is the voice in your head that speaks whenever something happens and your brain doesn't want to deal with the emotion. Whether it's anger, sadness, loneliness, the voice is there telling you to do it because it feels good."

Victim 4: *no response*

Victim 5: "Generally, the hardest part about trying to stay clean is the constant urge to self-harm, no matter what it is. The need to have control, to be punished, to want relief is overwhelming. It’s different for everyone, but the hardest part for me personally is that I never want to stop."

Victim 6: "The self-discipline and motivation. Sometimes it’s difficult to find reasons and energy to stop. My mind easily justifies the act and it can be challenging to convince myself why it’s unhealthy. It’s a constant battle with yourself."

If you could tell someone who doesn't understand self-harm one thing, what would it be?

Victim 1: "For the most part, those who self-harm are not doing it for attention. Those who self-harm are not cowards. Those who self-harm are not "psychotic." Those who self-harm are human beings attempting to cope with mental illness in any way they can find. It's hard to understand if you haven't been there, but just try to imagine how much mental pain you'd have to be in to intentionally hurt yourself. Next time you want to judge someone who does, try to put yourself in their shoes."

Victim 2: "It's an addiction. Just like any other addiction, it's a temptation I'll face for the rest of my life. I'm not a bad person for it, either. And I know it's hard to understand, but somehow it does make things feel better. At least just temporarily."

Victim 3: "The thing I want people to know about self-harm is that once you do it once, it almost becomes a slight addiction. It helps release your emotional stress, so when you get more stress, you want the easiest way out and since self-harm has worked for you in the past, you want to do it again. Sometimes I will be laying in bed not even thinking about anything and I will want to self-harm just to do it. For no reason at all. It's always in the back of your head, at least for me, and to fight that voice will be one of the hardest things you can do. It shows how strong you can be to resist that voice and it's so worth it to not listen to it."

Victim 4: "No one knows how to deal with emotional pain but everyone knows if you stick a bandaid on physical pain it heals soon, right? So I tried to turn my emotional pain into physical pain because that’s the only pain I knew how to heal fast. It's addictive as hell so don’t expect someone to drop it out of no where. It takes time to ween off of it."

Victim 5: "What consumes your mind controls your life. I can’t think of a better explanation than that."

Victim 6: "I certainly don't do it for attention."