Self harming

LegacyUser

I know that I need to seek professional help regarding this matter but would be grateful if anyone who has ever self harmed could share their experience on how they stopped themselves doing it.
Logically I don't want to do it but sometimes find myself doing it at stressfull times. Does anyone have any tips on how to stop doing it just before you do it? I don't want this to get out of control. Thanks.

starviewadams

I used to self harm before I started counselling,it was the only thing that gve me a bit of release from the anxiety,depression and stress that I was feeling because I had nobody that I could talk to about my problems.I'd recommend you go and talk to your GP and explain to him/her how you are feeling and about how you've been self harming.Thats exactly what I did and I was referred to a psychologist who I meet with weekly.

It makes a lot more sense to talk about your problems and try to work through them then it does to self harm,I only wish that I had realised this sooner.

Hersheys

Distractions, distractions, distractions.

I'm a self harmer. Okay I haven't done it in over a year but I still get the urges. It's an addiction that you'll never really get over, well if you're like me anyway.

How do I stop myself?

A few ways:

- Bargaining: "If in an hour you still want to do it, you can" - chances are in an hour you'll have calmed down and forgotten. If not, make it another hour.
- Phone-a-friend: Not to say "Listen buddy, I want to cut the arm off meself, talk me down" cos nobody wants that on their conscience, but just call up somebody you mightn't have spoken to in a while and catch up. Chances are you'll relax, get some gossip and forget why you called in the first place.
- Colouring in: This might sound stupid but it works for me. When I self harm it's all about the repetition, you get the same repetition with colouring in.
- Drawing on cuts: Either with pen wherever you wanted to cut (reminds you how yuck it looks and how difficult it is to hide) or draw the outline of your arm/leg/wherever on a page and draw them on there.
- Play games online
- Go for a walk/jog/run with your mp3 player blaring
- Eat something really cold
- Have a cold shower
- Indulge in a bit of self-love

If you want to beat this, you can. You just need to be strong about it. You'll find your own way to distract yourself from the urges.

Perhaps you could identify areas of stress within your life and try to focus on solving them?

Either way, stay safe, and post up here if you've any more questions

Novella

If you are in the Dublin area - http://www.pieta.ie/

Katy89

Hersheys wrote: »

Distractions, distractions, distractions.

I'm a self harmer. Okay I haven't done it in over a year but I still get the urges. It's an addiction that you'll never really get over, well if you're like me anyway.

How do I stop myself?

A few ways:

- Bargaining: "If in an hour you still want to do it, you can" - chances are in an hour you'll have calmed down and forgotten. If not, make it another hour.
- Phone-a-friend: Not to say "Listen buddy, I want to cut the arm off meself, talk me down" cos nobody wants that on their conscience, but just call up somebody you mightn't have spoken to in a while and catch up. Chances are you'll relax, get some gossip and forget why you called in the first place.
- Colouring in: This might sound stupid but it works for me. When I self harm it's all about the repetition, you get the same repetition with colouring in.
- Drawing on cuts: Either with pen wherever you wanted to cut (reminds you how yuck it looks and how difficult it is to hide) or draw the outline of your arm/leg/wherever on a page and draw them on there.
- Play games online
- Go for a walk/jog/run with your mp3 player blaring
- Eat something really cold
- Have a cold shower
- Indulge in a bit of self-love

If you want to beat this, you can. You just need to be strong about it. You'll find your own way to distract yourself from the urges.

Perhaps you could identify areas of stress within your life and try to focus on solving them?

Either way, stay safe, and post up here if you've any more questions

not a real self harmer myself, done it maybe 5-10 times in my life but think this is really, really good advice for people with real self harm issues, thanks hershey.

I agree with the counceling advice as well, it's normally the best and most helpful thing to do for mental issues. it's not easy to find a good one, but keep looking, there'll be one for you somewhere:)

MrMojoRising

Used to do it a lot myself when i was younger. Have some horrible scars all over me because of it.

I did eventually stop though, but it wasn't a conscious "i have to stop this" thing. I don't think that would have worked. I think what happened was the underlying issues that caused it eased somewhat, and then the self harming gradually stopped.

If its stress thats causing you to do it, you need to focus on how to tackle that. Be it by eliminating the cause of it (if thats possible), talking about it with someone, or finding some way to relax. If you can do that, then the self harming should take care of itself.

LegacyUser

Try to seek some help from the experts. I have self-harmed over the years, and got myself in to a right mess just there before Xmas. I cut my arms extremely badly, woke up the next morning to horrific results on my arm. That frightened me to the point that I categorically cannot let that happen again. Don't let yourself get to the same point.

LegacyUser

Going hidden for this one as I have family on here . I self harmed for nearly 6 years before i eventually found a great supportive facebook page , dont know have you seen it but its Help, reduce suicide depression and stress related illness. They really encouraged me to get counselling to stop cutting and pulling my hair out , I have not cut since September.hope this helps, K