Interesting stuff, this is written mainly for cutters, but we have pain and blood with picking and don’t tell me it’s not self injury.
What Can be Done if You Are Considering Injuring Yourself?
First, people generally do not wish to hurt themselves, but see no better way of managing their emotions. The suggestions below are for people who have made the decision to quit self-injuring, and are looking for alternative strategies to deal with their emotions. Author Deb Martinson suggests looking at the emotions behind the urge to help determine which strategies you might try. (Anger, frustration, restlessness, sadness, melancholic, craving sensation, wanting to see blood, wanting to focus):
Techniques to Try:
• Distract yourself. Get away from the situation you are in, and do something else.
• Talk with someone who is supportive, such as a family member, friend, RA, hall director, or counselor.
• Engage in another activity that requires stimulation. Give yourself a massage, take a hot or cold shower, squeeze ice, finger paint, or squish Play-doh.
• Exercise is a way of quickly managing emotions. Go for a brisk walk or run, punch a pillow, swim, lift weights, or engage in other aerobic activities that require physical exertion.
• Pamper yourself by doing something soothing. Read, listen to music, take a relaxing bath, look at the moon or clouds, open a window to get some fresh air.
• Make a list of activities to engage in that have been helpful in the past when you had the urge to self-injure. Keep this list handy to refer to if you do have the urge to self-injure.
Log the Following Information If You Have the Urge to Self-Injure:
• Rate the intensity of your urge to hurt yourself on a scale from 1-10.
• Identify which emotions you are feeling.
• Rate the intensity of each emotion on a scale from 1-10.
• Identify the situation you were in prior to your urge to hurt yourself.
• Identify the unhelpful/impulsive thoughts present when you had the urge to hurt yourself.
• Identify more helpful/more realistic thoughts to dispute the unhelpful ones.
Rate the intensity of your emotions a scale from 1-10 after completing this log.
You may notice that working through this activity helps you more closely identify what you are feeling and thinking, and how a situation that occurred before the desire to self injure may be connected to the urge. Some people find that the urge to self injure greatly decreases after going through this step by step process.
It may also be helpful to think about the first time self-injury occurred, the situations and emotional factors at that time, and how they were dealt with.
Taken from:
www.uwec.edu/counsel/pubs/selfinj.htmCornell info:
www.crpsib.com/whatissi.aspS.A.F.E. program seems to be for young people claims that 75% who take the program are injury free 2 years after treatment. They use an impulse control log to create thought before self-injury.
www.selfinjury.com/
we have developed a high tolerance to pain and a disconnect with our body. Now it may be because we are super feelers in that we feel things more than other people emotions and allergic reactions. May be we have not figured out a way to express ourselves and it has got channeled into our picking hobby, which is a form of stimualtion to our body.
we have developed a high tolerance to pain and a disconnect with our body. Now it may be because we are super feelers in that we feel things more than other people emotions and allergic reactions. May be we have not figured out a way to express ourselves and it has got channeled into our picking hobby, which is a form of stimualtion to our body.