Strategies for not self harming

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well...if u use utensils such as knives to self harm such as i do.....it's best to keep those in irregular places where you wouldn't readily go.

also....keep in mind as others have said scars can be permanent...as evident all over my body.

My appointment to see the therapist was made for next week. Finally! I am nervous, though.

It was a slow process for me, and there was no one reason for my self harm. I can't quite even define what I got out of it, probably a mix of a few things. One thing that helped me (but might not help you) is to still have an object, but make it hard to access. That way, if you do relapse, it's not within arms reach, but you also don't feel...deprived? If you feel like if knowing that you have an item still to hurt yourself with will be too much, then maybe just get rid of everything. But do it yourself, you'll feel more in control of what's happening in your life. Personally I try not to think of self harm too much, because if I obsess over it a lot, that's when I'll relapse. Anyway, therapy didn't help me with my self harming, because I wasn't able to open up properly and describe my feelings. But I've had it work for me before, with suicidal thoughts. Anyway, I hope I helped a bit, and hope you're alright.

I got a very large tattoo on my forearm where I would formerly SI there... It does stop me when I see it, sometimes. Just wanted to throw that out there... I know physical exercise does help but I end up injuring myself pushing too hard...

Might I suggest lifting weights... there is some soreness the next day if you're doing it right and it kind of helps with the neurotransmitter aspect, for me. (you can flex the muscle you worked out and it's deeply sore sometimes) Burpees wear me out, so I try to do as many as I can every other day or so.

Basically I'm saying replace the harming with a physical pain from strenuous exercise, because I know I SI because my emotional/psychic pain is way too intense and I need some kind of 'recovery' from it which I can't get emotionally, only physically.

I did bicep curls and pushups yesterday and also got very upset today and resisted SI by feeling the soreness in my biceps. Usually I'd hit myself til I bruised/bleed, I'm not a cutter anymore because of scars.

The tattoo thing is big for me, nothing like a 5 hour tattoo to give my body all the endorphins it needs, keeps me from SI for months sometimes. The tiger has lasted over a year. It's a visual reminder of my efforts to stop SI.

I hope you feel better, I know it really sucks to feel this way and there are no easy answers.

I tend to punch myself really hard. I'm not really a cutter.

I know what you mean about the sore muscles from weightlifting. I might try and use that to stop myself.

I strongly don't recommend this, but when desperate, remember that there is a Chinese custom where people cut figurines out of paper, then use a slipper to smack such figurines until they themselves cheer up.

I'm glad some people here have mentioned that SH isn't all about cutting and blood. I kept thinking I can't be SH because I don't cut and I don't bleed, but I often would have bruises and broken walls in the house or just punch a wall or door or something. I can get quite vicious SH thoughts that wouldn't cause blood but have the same effect.

I had never really considered myself a self-harmer until I realized that was what I could call hitting things in order to feel pain so that the tension inside my head would lift. I'd never hurt myself much, a scraped knuckle on a brick wall, nothing serious, I don't like physical pain but sometimes my emotional turmoil demands it. Slapping myself in the head worked. I used to wrap a rope/thick shoestring around my neck when I was feeling that way. I haven't done the latter in quite sometime, I think it's because the chair on which the rope was tied for the cats to play with was moved and the rope taken off. So there's something to be said for removing the self-harming implement, whatever it may be.

In June I was so distraught by things going on inside my head that I punched the bathroom sink cabinet three times as hard as I could. Before I knew it, my middle knuckle began to swell and two knuckles turned purple and my thoughts cleared. I laughed. And then as my first real experience of physical pain transcending emotional pain kicked in, I realized I didn't want it. There was no way to make the physical pain stop. I sat in the bathroom holding my hand and then went to the freezer to get something to bring the swelling down. My hand didn't stop being sore until weeks later. From time to time I still feel a twinge of pain from that knuckle, I may have damaged the nerves. The next time I had a real opportunity to self-harm again I didn't do it, because of knowing that it would only make things worse in the long run. I suffered through my emotions. Yet I still found myself recently trying to slap away my distress. Since it wasn't serious self-harm, I didn't stop myself.

I'm sorry I don't really have any advice since I have a very pale case of SH. What helped me restrain myself from further injury probably won't be of much use. But if there's any way that a weaker act of SH could help you through your day, perhaps you could resort to that instead. (A very weak act is digging fingernails into the flesh of the palm, I do that all the time.)