Do You Bang Your Head?

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Every time I get overwhelmed, angry, or have meltdowns, my first response is always to start banging my head, with my hands, on the wall, on the floor, whatever hard surface I have available. It's instinctive, and it starts before I can do anything about it. Once I start, I can't stop without redirection or physical intervention from someone else. I've been to the ER and had the paramedics called many times because of it. I do it because it's a way of taking the internal pressure that I don't know how to deal with and making it external, like letting air out of a balloon that's blown up too much. The jolting impact also tends to be rhythmic and jarring, which is soothing.

Do you or did you ever engage in this behaviour? I'd really like to stop, and my therapist is going to try to teach me some new strategies next week, but I've tried a lot of different things (deep breathing, yoga, sensory breaks, heavy exercise) and none of it has really worked because nothing feels the same as head banging.

I've banged my head pretty hard on hard surfaces.

I used to hit my head with my hands during outbursts before I went on antidepressants, but that was because I was angry at myself and wanted to let everyone know how much I hated myself. I never done it as a child or teenager though.

I've never told anyone that, but yes...I used to. Not really hard, but like bouncing a ball. Sort of bump, bump, bump. I also like to press my forehead against cold glass windows...very firmly.

Not as such, no.

Though I have been known to bang my head on the desk if something says something intensely stupid. That happens more than it should.

No I do not.

Only when listening to Slayer.

No, I bite my fingers instead.
My mother says I did when I was a toddler. I don't remember it.

I slap my own face if I'm overwhelmed by an emotion such as embarrassment or regret.

I do. Just not very often and had to be seriously frustrated enough for me do actually do it.


Happens out of frustration of self than anything else.

And it's usually when I cannot sleep when I should be willingly asleep.
Past midnight, very exhausted, overwhelmed because of having to deal with rhinitis related crap like sneezing for every half a minute, causing headaches and discomfortable breathing along with it, while urgently have to get up early...

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When I was a baby/toddler, I used to do bang my head more often than my parents would like to see me to. From all accounts I was used to smash it very hard "for no reason" (their words).

These days I don't do it. Not that I don't think of doing, but I don't.

Sadly yes...
I did it in my room when I was a kid to calm down and during meltdowns and still do I recently broke a headband because I hit my head against the car window. Meldowns are absolutly awful and embarresing

my folks tol' me when I was a toddler, as soon as they moved my crib away from my mom's bed, that I banged my head against the wall pretty hard.