Question: Who else does outlandish, drastic shit when...

well done for fighting the abuser instead of just hiding away.
Thats already helping you to clear the air, somewhat.
On the subject of piercings-i would say that unless you really want the piercing, try to avoid getting one you'll regret. Why not do what my sister does and take a weekend off with some true friends at a spa? (she's also had some pretty terrible experiences)
It's relaxing physically and mentally and will give you time to calm down.
I would discourage taking any kind of medication to calm you down, as you can very easily get addicted to them.
If it is a form of self-mutilation then know this:
'To the world you may be one person, but to one person you are the world.' -Someone, somewhere, is thinking of you :) and...
...Keep Smiling!

I self-injured since 7th grade till junior year, last year whenever I got too stressed or situations that caused emotions too much for me to handle. I would've gotten tattoos and piercings if I was legal -.-" Since last year, I started dying and cutting my hair a lot. One time I had a bad week, I dyed my hair 3 times...not the greatest idea. Now I'm that I'm legal though, I can resort to tattoos and piercings :)

i actually want to get the word LOVE tattooed across my wrist to symbolize a my dark teenage yrs and to put the word love there reminds me of the scars i left on myself frm a time whn i really hated myself

after a long peiod of depression, i decided i had had enough of feeling that way, and that things needed to change. so i changed my hairstyle and overhauled my wardrobe (still in the process of doing this, i know what i want but its hard to find/expensive) to a style that i find reflects the new me. ive got a slightly different attitude, and my proirities and life values have all changed slightly, and i find i need to look the part in order to feel and be the part.

i think the tattoo and peircing stories all have a pattern too; they all seem to be a sort of spiteful, rebellious and almost self-mutilation thing, that seem to happen mostly after a bad experience. inflicting that bit of pain to remind yourself that youre still here and still alive, while giving yourself a permanent, visible reminder in the form of a scar, hole, peircing or tattoo. i too, have a collection of peircings from certain times, but interestingly only from the bad times.

Honestly i do the same thing as you love.
Getting a new peircing seems to make yourself feel better about yourself, therefore you dont seem to think about the situation in hand.
I do the same thing but with tattoos too :)
It seems like a good way to get all of the peircings and tattoos you've ever wanted, but still makes you feel worse at the end of the day.
Just chin up and think, you're as good as you make yourself believe.
xx

when my ex and i broke up i got the other side of my lip pierced. i already have one side done. so now i have snake bites. but i did it because he never wanted me to and i always wanted to. basically just to please myself and express that he could just suck on it.. so i understand where you're coming from. AND i got another tattoo, but went more extreme and got a whole half sleeve. it symbolizes change, a new me and recognizing the past. so yeah, needles are my escape too haha. the tattoo was more for me though, not for anyone else just to recognize i'm my own person and my past is officially my past. plan on expanding it too :)

i buy stupid crap i dont need whenever something bad happens to me
i always try to seek consolation from my bf (the latest bad thing that happened was my grandma dying) but sometimes he's not able to talk to me (when he's working (retail-shop floor)) its just really hard so i go out shopping, usually with my mum (im 20) and she will probably buy me something to cheer me up

thats my story