Oh dear, medically misinformed fodder galore. I can't possibly win from such a futile debate, but oh well, Tally ho!

Allow me to shed some light to this matter; I say to hell with anyone who perpetually pulls out "it doesn't allow you to face your problems". Damn it all, humans are stupid little creatures and the majority will be as such. In reality, we are all cowards trying to run from our realities.

First, I will say this; Two main reasons: One, cutting and other forms of pain trigger the release of endorphins, which make you feel good. Allowing the neurological conditions to focus more on physical pains rather than mental stress, releasing unpleasant feelings like sadness, anger, frustration, anxiety, and self-loathing. After cutting, mood often increases because these negative emotions have been dispelled.

Secondly; in terms of cognitive neurology, humans altogether just love the feeling of having control over their lives, no matter what the method is.

So, in this sense, yes it does.

Edit: Personally, I think low of anyone who does this.

But nevertheless, regardless of how stupid their methods are, it certainly helps the majority.

This is not an issue on a woman's determination to prove herself to be as physically strong as the male partner in such military ops.

There is a reason why military, especially in the infantry fields, tend to exclude women for deployment on those tasks.

Conditionally, whenever in situations like this; Women tend to think more than men, and in the field, you don't have the luxury of enough time to think as much in the comfort of a classroom. I've seen my share of arguments from the woman's side in this subject, and most supporters tend to advocate "women can be just as physically strong as man if she wants to". However, that argument is irrelevant to the military's actual reason for their decisions on this matter.

In war, a man can think 12 seconds when in conflict to make a decision, a woman(and some of you have to admit that you argue that women think a matter more thoroughly than men) would take 20+ seconds to reach a decision. A bullet would not wait for your thoughts to finish, the other side would not restrain his trigger finger for your far more rational thinking than man.

Seconds are very precious in the battle field; An eight second gap may not seem like much, but being a relative of more than five Iraqi war veterans; Eight seconds is the difference between dragging your body with a wound in the leg from a bullet, or sending a folded flag home.

Edit: I do not wish to come across as sexist, I'm merely stating my point here