I'm glad you got something good out of my story, but I think yo missed something important. Granmother didn't "take the boy's mid off it". In fact, she tells him that he's made a mess of things, but that she loves him anyway. That's the point.

Your yf's mind will leave this behind eventually, a forgotten folly, and there's nothing you can or should do about that. All you can do is love him, that's what he neds the most, especially right now that he's lost most if not all of his friends now that the shit has hit the fan. His cutting behavior is caused by a mistaken relation bewteen attention (the thing he knows he can get) and love (the thing he really wants and needs). Attention is like crack and love like... skydiving (or what have you).

By chewing him out and threatening him, and accusing him, and putting your friendship on hold, you are giving him attention, feeding him the crack he thinks he needs, and he knows how to push your buttons to get it. But what you need to do is love him. Hold him in your arms again, and tell him that he is still loved.

Love in Christ,
~CSL