Just for laughs I've gone and answered someone's how are you question with all kinds of weird responses depending on my mood.

I've gone into a long detailed description of how wonderful life is, and I mean a loooooooooong deeeeeeeetailed description.

I've done the having a really miserable day want to kill myself type answers.

I love the silly one's like, "About 162 centimetres" (pretending you thought they said "How tall are you?") and it's astounding how many people just say, "That's good".

I though it was absolutely brilliant when I was once covered in blood and someone asked, "Are you okay?" and I replied calmly, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just I'm making a fashionable statement about the effects of violence in society."  and then I got the responce of, "Err, okay then." and they walked away!  Fortunately I was pretty much okay, it looked worse than it really was, and I was in one of my "Wendigo" moods, so I actually found it funny.

Giving silly answers, or dropping a silly line into something you are saying, is an excellent way to see how much purple are really listerine to you... or reading what you write.  lol. 

Oh hell yeah!  Try it some time.  When people are actually listening and do realise what you are doing it gives them a good laugh as well.

Another fun one to do is when a shop assistant comes up and asks if s/he can help you, you respond with (starting calm and slowly building up to a highly upset state), "No sorry love, I'm way beyond help.  But you can tell me where in this store I might find... umm... err... I've forgotten what I was here for now!  You disturbed my train of thought!  It has taken me years to train my thoughts, and I'm disturbed enough already!  How dare you!" and storm out of the store.

I had an ex, when we went shopping together he would pretend to be a cross between handicapped and egore........and he would follow me around the store yelling my name as loud as possible. He and the cashiers thought it was pretty funny.....especially when I was laughing hysterically and chasing him with a broom...

LMAO....................can i say anythin more?

I have to be in the right sort of very irate but mischievious mood to do this sort of stuff, and as I hate shopping that doesn't happen too often.  And then there's the thing of if you do it too often it loses its appeal and isn't so funny anymore, and people start to expect it.

So it's just a very occassional thing when I'm in the right kind of mood.

Well said and very good point Deb.

If you can't handle listening to someone's story because it is hitting too close to home, the best and most tactful approach is just to gently tell the person that what they are saying is upsetting you because you have been through a similar thing, and listening to their story is bringing up too many memories for you that you are not ready to deal with yet.  This relays the message that you do care, you do believe them, and most importantly of all they aren't alone in the world.  If it is someone you see regularly, you might offer to talk to them more about it at a later time when you are more settled about it, or if you can you might recommend a councellor or other professinal help to them.

As for on Minti, if you can't handle reading it, just leave and no one will really know why you did, but you can feel assured that those that can handle it will do so appropriately.  There's less guilt for walking away here, and there's damage that can be done by doing so.  However, putting someone down, making people feel guilty or blameful, or whinging and whining that the person with a problem is just whinging and whining, can indeed do a lot of damage.

I was a messed up kid and did all kinds of what other's might think as irrational things to cope.....and that's exactly what it is: coping. Some people cut, some people pull out their hair (literally not a joke), some people drink, some people gamble, spend money on adult entertainment in some form or another, some become promiscuous, some people overeat, or overshop......just to name a few.   I think that understanding that cutting or self abuse takes the physical pain and distracts it from the mental hurt and anguish. People who cut (this is my own opinion) to me always seem to be highly intelligent and feel their emotions so strongly and passionaly that without the right coping tools.....it seems like the right choice to take the pain away. I hope this makes sense to you......I hope it helps you with your friend.

I was a cutter, and I have the scars to prove it. Tatts and piercings are the more socially acceptable form of self-inflicted pain that many opt for if they have the money for it... done that too.

There is actually physiological as well as psycological reasons why people do this, but I'll write about that another day.