Writing do hands bleed a lot? TW: self-harm, gore

[Ahrihn]

I'm writing a scene where the MC self-harms, one part of which involving her scratching out/tearing the back of her hands. Would this bleed a lot? Like to the extent of dripping blood?
Also can a gas lighter (like a long tube ones) cause significant, obvious burns? Are those ones painful?
Do ppl who self-harm have any particular reactions to experiencing large self-inflicted pain?

Edit:
Wow! Thanks everyone~~! It was really helpful.

Don't worry, I wont self-harm lol.
As for mental illnesses — in this case, my character is attempting to self-harm in order to draw attention to herself. She's cutting and burning herself, but as people don't notice or don't pay attention to her, her self-harm starts to escalate — from scabs on her hands to actual knife cuts on her palms, to eventual suicide.
In this context, does burning herself seem unrealistic? If so, I may cut it out.
Anyway, thanks everybody!

Cheers ppl

 

[CheertheSecond]

Hmm. Lighter would depend on the gas volume and the duration.

 

[HungrySheep]

Define "a lot." If you're asking about massive pools of blood, then no. Even with multiple wounds on the back of your hands, the total quantity of blood expelled from those wounds is not going to be particularly significant unless they are exceptionally deep. I do not imagine self-inflicted wounds as a result of one's nails would gouge wounds that could be considered "exceptionally deep" unless they have some sort of ungodly super nails. Yes, there will obviously be blood. If the blood is subjected to gravity, then it will drip. No, it will not be enough to fill up a bathtub.

A gas lighter creates a flame. I do not know anyone who would be willing to put their hand over an open flame for an extended period of time. It would probably hurt like a bitch even after five seconds of exposure. The intensity of the burn would depend on exposure time, but it will hurt regardless. Do not try to test this at home.

I'm not sure whether the final question is something that is appropriate to discuss in detail, so I'll keep it brief. I used to do this. Yes, it does hurt, but it helps you feel something at the very least. In other cases, the pain helps drown out other sources of pain or it acts as a tangible source of pain that you can identify.

 

[SalivaSpittingWorm]

Ehm.... I don't have experience with it, but from what I understand, people who self-harm try to use it to cover up other pain. In this case, fight fire with fire for them. Whether it's psychological pain or physical pain, so to relieve the long term pain they inflict other pain because it gives them the relief of taking a break from the long term pain for a while even if it's just a different kind of pain. That's my understanding of self-harm.

As for physical injury, I can't say. As far as I know, bleeding caused on the hands doesn't last very long unless one causes serious injury to oneself. As far as I know, most bleeding is from the head, even if it's a minor injury.

P.S. Just in case. Please don't try this.

 

[LilRora]

From what I know (so don't take this as facts, more like an educated guess) hands bleed quite a lot of blood in the first ~10 seconds, but once that passes, they bleed very little as long as you don't reach some larger blood vessels.

I remember I acidentally cut my finger with scissors once, and first I got a blob of on my finger, and then it virtually stopped bleeding.

It'll be on a significantly greater scale with hands instead of fingers, but fact remains you have no large blood vessels in your hands, so once what you have in your veins close to the wound bleeds out, it trickles very slowly or none at all. Add to that there are no muscles that would need a lot of blood on the back of the hands (only tendons) so there's not a lot to bleed out unless you reach larger blood vessels inside the hand.

Got a lecture so I gotta go, might edit this later in regards to fire.

Promised edit: Fire is hot. No matter how large, it's hot, and lighter fire is something over 2000°C, which is a lot. If you hold your hand over it for a second or two, it's gonna hurt like a bitch but it'll only be a blister at worst. If you hold for longer though, severe burns are on the table, and it's only gonna hurt more (unless you burn all the way to your nerves, but I don't think we're talking about cases that extreme).

I remember I almost lit my cupboard on my fire with a candle when I was like 5 years old, and those aren't nearly as hot as fire from a lighter.

 

[DanteDeathscythe]

1. No. If it is particularly bad, it would feel like their hands is soaked in blood, but not much would even drip onto the floor.
2. Pretty hard to do something like that. It would most likely end with an somewhat red area that hurts like a bitch.
3. Depends. Some might feel it was deserved, others might feel shame, some might even feel happy. But it would nearly always feel like they crossed a line.
4. Don't actually self harm! There is no meme, don't do it!

 

[ChubbyLiv]

I remember I scratched someone's arm with my nails until they started to bleed, lol. The blood only appeared on the surface with no heavy bleeding. When a cat scratched me lightly, the blood also appeared on the surface, with no heavy bleeding. It was not deep like when you cut yourself with a knife or paper, which requires you to wrap your finger with a tissue or something.

 

[MintiLime]

Ehm.... I don't have experience with it, but from what I understand, people who self-harm try to use it to cover up other pain. In this case, fight fire with fire for them. Whether it's psychological pain or physical pain, so to relieve the long term pain they inflict other pain because it gives them the relief of taking a break from the long term pain for a while even if it's just a different kind of pain. That's my understanding of self-harm.

As for physical injury, I can't say. As far as I know, bleeding caused on the hands doesn't last very long unless one causes serious injury to oneself. As far as I know, most bleeding is from the head, even if it's a minor injury.

P.S. Just in case. Please don't try this.

From what I remember, the chemical response to physical pain is endorphins. There’s a theory that when psychological stressors reach a certain point, self-harm is triggered to release said endorphins to help heal the psychological damage.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-020-00914-2

Note, this doesn’t mean people are doing this for a rush. It means the biology of the body is triggering this as a coping mechanism. If you’re itchy, you itch. That sort of thing.

This is entirely separate from suicidal and dysmorphic self-harm.

one part of which involving her scratching out/tearing the back of her hands. Would this bleed a lot? Like to the extent of dripping blood?

Most likely not dramatically unless she’s taking chunks out. Think the amount of blood from sticking a hand in a rose bush.

NOW IF YOU WANT you can make dripping, pooling blood a bit of a hallucination for the character, where they drown in their own thoughts before snapping back into reality and see how little damage was actually done. It could be a really good metaphor for psychological suffering being greater that what others can see. Bonus points if a different character thinks it’s just cat scratches or from gardening or something.

Also can a gas lighter (like a long tube ones) cause significant, obvious burns? Are those ones painful?

Probably in the manner of cigarette butt burns.

You’d probably get worse burns from something like putting a hand in hot oil or on a pan on the stove.

 

[J_Chemist]

After busting knuckles, getting cuts on my palms, fingers, and the backs of my hands- it depends.

How deep is the cut? How fine is the cut? Is it just a scratch, a gash, a tear, a hole? Is it in the meaty thick part of the palm, or up by the knuckles? My knuckles don't bleed much even after busting them open but my palms gush a bit. I haven't had anything excessive, like a knife slice across my palm, but I've been poked and had some calluses torn off while lifting. Yes, it gets bloody but there's nothing that will kill you. Maybe some light headedness if you're queasy. Backs of the hands don't bleed all that much. It's mainly bone and thin skin up there so there's not much unless you cut a vein that runs across. Then, uh, you might have a problem.

Edit: The lighter effects would depend on the type of flame used and the strength of the lighter, duration of the flame application, and surface area burnt. If you use a regular bic lighter, the burns will be rather insignificant. But if you use a torch lighter, them bitches will scald you. Source: my stupid ass trying to burn some rope and the wind blowing the flame over my fingers.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I'm writing a scene where the MC self-harms, one part of which involving her scratching out/tearing the back of her hands. Would this bleed a lot? Like to the extent of dripping blood?

Drip? Sure. To some extent. However. The human body is a rather amazing instrument. The human hands are Rath compartmentalized. Assuming you aren't dismembered, your hands can take a remarkable amount of punishment, then stop bleeding fairly quickly.

As they say, across for attention, down for results.

If you don't slash your wrists the "right" way, chances are you'll passout and stop bleeding before you die. But you could get some dripping, if you slash yourself deep enough.

Also can a gas lighter (like a long tube ones) cause significant, obvious burns? Are those ones painful?
Do ppl who self-harm have any particular reactions to experiencing large self-inflicted pain?

Cheers ppl

Uhhh... length of exposure and strength will determine damage. Most likely 1st, maybe 2nd degree burns, but not over a wide area with a simple Bic.

Burns are always painful. The worst. Especially chemical burns.

As for reactions, depends on the mental illness. Usually they would NOT burn themselves. Burning is not fun and it doesn't trigger the same self medication response as cutting.

Cutting can be euphoric. Burning is not. Burning would be counterproductive is we are talking the mental illness and the goals.

However, self cutting might have a limited self medication response, the health damage to long term abuse is rather horrifying. I'm not just talking blood loss, pain and scarring, but the body's response is basically

BURN ALL AVAILABLE FUEL.
IGNORE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS.

Good reaction when your life is on the line. Triggered repeatedly. It will cause long term damage to kidneys and liver.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

Gas lighters can induce 1st degree burns if held to the skin for a good amount of time, around two or so minutes. Most people wouldn't hold it to them for more than a minute and those lighters rarely stay lit for more than a ten seconds at a time so it would be very difficult. It wouldn't really hurt that much as some cold water would fix it right up and it would heal in a few days.

As someone who has had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree burns, it isn't fun and there are very few mental illnesses that cause a person to wish to induce burning pain. It isn't the same as getting cut.

Scratching your hand can't produce enough blood to drip unless if they cut an artery. If they do, they will probably bleed enough to pass out and possibly die in roughly 6-8 minutes if nothing is done. Otherwise, there is a likely chance that it may just cause psoriasis from repeated physical trauma to the same part of the body.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Would this bleed a lot? Like to the extent of dripping blood?

No, it wouldn't bleed a lot, but it will create nasty looking cuts that look even worse when they scab over.

Also can a gas lighter (like a long tube ones) cause significant, obvious burns? Are those ones painful?

They can create obvious burns if the hand is held over the flame for long enough. A short time will just create a little pink/red, but will still be painful nonetheless.

Do ppl who self-harm have any particular reactions to experiencing large self-inflicted pain?

They do. Several of them will cry or even scream, but for some people the pain is drowned out by whatever emotion they are experiencing. I never cut myself; however, I have seen how it effects people. Some people will cut deep enough to leave a permanent scar, and burning can also leave a permanent scar.

 

[T.K._Paradox]

Your hands are very, very sensitive. Scratching unless done for a very prolonged time is not very deep give humans nails.

And yeah, fire is hot.