Self-Injury question? What if it was kind of accidental?

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Sometimes I feel like I’d like to self-harm, but I don’t since it’s a mortal sin. I used to, but that was years ago before I knew it was mortal. I still think about it often. Anyway these days sometimes I will do small things to hurt myself (ie. banging my wrist against a hard surface) but “carefully/ in a measured way” so it doesn’t cause any physical damage and won’t be a mortal sin.

But every now and then, I accidentally use more force…like today in the spur of the moment, I hit my wrist against something, and scratched the skin enough for a very little bit of blood to show. Are such accidents mortal sins? I really didn’t intend to cause damage to the skin, and besides it was so little.
 
PThomson said:
Sometimes I feel like I’d like to self-harm, but I don’t since it’s a mortal sin. I used to, but that was years ago before I knew it was mortal. I still think about it often. Anyway these days sometimes I will do small things to hurt myself (ie. banging my wrist against a hard surface) but “carefully/ in a measured way” so it doesn’t cause any physical damage and won’t be a mortal sin.

But every now and then, I accidentally use more force…like today in the spur of the moment, I hit my wrist against something, and scratched the skin enough for a very little bit of blood to show. Are such accidents mortal sins? I really didn’t intend to cause damage to the skin, and besides it was so little.
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I doubt they would be mortal. Minor injury would not be grave matter.

Also, it sounds like you don’t have full control over this; that you suffer from some sort of compulsion. That would mitigate the intent necessary for mortal sin.

Are you getting professional help for this desire to self-injure? You really should.

God Bless and I’ll pray for you
 
bilop said:
I doubt they would be mortal. Minor injury would not be grave matter.

Also, it sounds like you don’t have full control over this; that you suffer from some sort of compulsion. That would mitigate the intent necessary for mortal sin.

Are you getting professional help for this desire to self-injure? You really should.

God Bless and I’ll pray for you
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I was told though that deliberate self-injury, however mild, was mortal sin. So mild injury, like light scratches/bruises aren’t mortal?

Also, I do have full control, or I wouldn’t have stopped all these years. I have full consent to what I’m doing. I just didn’t know that I would use that much force, or didn’t consider it.
 
PThomson said:
I was told though that deliberate self-injury, however mild, was mortal sin. So mild injury, like light scratches/bruises aren’t mortal?

Also, I do have full control, or I wouldn’t have stopped all these years. I have full consent to what I’m doing. I just didn’t know that I would use that much force, or didn’t consider it.
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I think you should probably talk to a priest.

Mortal sin requires grave matter. If you steal a $0.02 piece of gum, that can’t be mortal sin, b/c the trivial amount lacks gravity. Deliberate self-injury is certainly problematic, and probably sinful. We should seek to avoid all sin, not just mortal sin.

Full consent doesn’t mean you lack self-control. One can be deemed not to fully consent to sin do to habit or compulsion. e.g. a drug addict who wants to stop but can’t, or a person with a strong habit of masturbation, may not be culpable of mortal sin, even though they are in control of their actions, and the matter is grave. They sinned mortally getting started, but later the culpability may be reduced.

God Bless
 
I would love to know more, such as, is this when you get angry or upset. You might need anger management, or do you just do this for no apparent reason? Maybe you need to seek help. People don’t harm themselves that love themselves. This sounds like you have some really serious issues, maybe even from childhood that you may not even be aware of, an illness. I don’t think you are in control, therefore it would not be a sin. God Bless You!!! (Don’t be afraid or ashamed to seek help). Brenda
 
flower_lady said:
I would love to know more, such as, is this when you get angry or upset. You might need anger management, or do you just do this for no apparent reason? Maybe you need to seek help. People don’t harm themselves that love themselves. This sounds like you have some really serious issues, maybe even from childhood that you may not even be aware of, an illness. I don’t think you are in control, therefore it would not be a sin. God Bless You!!! (Don’t be afraid or ashamed to seek help). Brenda
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Sometimes this is when I’m feeling down or upset, but it’s not unusual for me to want to hurt myself even when I’m feeling okay and have no apparent reason. Like today, I wasn’t really feeling anything, I just wanted to. I don’t have any serious issues, no abuse or anything. Just don’t like myself I guess

I do appreciate all your responses, but I wish people would assume that I am in control. I understand that for some people, self-harm is extremely difficult to control, due to depression or other mental illnesses, which would mitigate their consent. But I don’t have any mitigating factors like that, so it complicates things when I ask other Catholics and they assume I’m not well and therefore there is no sin.

Bilop, I have been planning to ask a priest for a while now but I’m kind of homebound so it’s hard. Thank you for your reply 🙂 However, I thought self-harm is considered grave matter?
 
PThomson said:
Sometimes this is when I’m feeling down or upset, but it’s not unusual for me to want to hurt myself even when I’m feeling okay and have no apparent reason. Like today, I wasn’t really feeling anything, I just wanted to. I don’t have any serious issues, no abuse or anything. Just don’t like myself I guess

I do appreciate all your responses, but I wish people would assume that I am in control. I understand that for some people, self-harm is extremely difficult to control, due to depression or other mental illnesses, which would mitigate their consent. But I don’t have any mitigating factors like that, so it complicates things when I ask other Catholics and they assume I’m not well and therefore there is no sin.

Bilop, I have been planning to ask a priest for a while now but I’m kind of homebound so it’s hard. Thank you for your reply 🙂 However, I thought self-harm is considered grave matter?
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I’m not certain, you should talk to the priest. If you are homebound, call your local parish and tell them that, and say you want a priest to visit to hear your confession. You can ask him them.

God Bless
 
bilop said:
I’m not certain, you should talk to the priest. If you are homebound, call your local parish and tell them that, and say you want a priest to visit to hear your confession. You can ask him them.

God Bless
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I live with my family and they pretty much monitor my every move, so me making a call is out of the question. We go Confession once a year at Eastertime, so that’s when I’ll ask, hopefully.

This is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and relates to “Respect for bodily integrity”:
“2297 …Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.”

Seems to refer to a person inflicting mutilation on another person. sigh I had thought I read somewhere that self-mutilation was grave matter, however slight. That’s why I stopped even though mine was never severe. Oh well talking to a priest seems the only sure answer.
 
Felt like asking again. Would mild non-life-threatening self injury be grave matter for a mortal sin?
 
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