If you feel the urge to SI use one of these distractions instead.

If you know of any distractions that are not listed please let me know

  Self Help 

Why should I stop self-injuring? 

• You are already hurting enough
• Self-harm doesn't heal the pain, it just delays it
• You are beautiful as you are
• You deserve better than this
• It hurts
• It hurts the people that care for you too
• The scars will remind you of this pain and you don't want to remember it
• You don't deserve the guilt, shame and/or embarrassment that may come with it
• You are stronger than this
• You have other resources and healthier coping methods available

 

What to do Instead

 

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return...

 

Coping Skills, Distractions, self-soothing, whatever you call it just stay safe. There are many things to do instead of self-injury. If you feel the urge to SI use one of these distractions instead.

 

 

There are so many things you can do. I have split them into sections to make it easier to find one to you. It would be help full for you to go thru them all and highlight/circle/underline the ones that you’ll use.

 

*Most importantly*

 

* Stay in the company of others. People usually injure themselves privately. Spend as much time as possible in public places; stay overnight with a trusted friend or family member if you can.

 

* Stay away from the materials that you know you might hurt yourself with, like razors, glass, pins, etc. Many people find it helpful in the short term to remove razor blades or other tempting items from their home.

 

* Remind yourself of the long-term consequences of self-injury (scars, having to wear long sleeves, and social rejection being a few possibilities);

 

* Some people find it helpful to say "NO!" or "STOP!" out loud to themselves when they think of hurting themselves, and this seems to interrupt the immediacy of their usual self-injury response to stress. In essence, it helps them think before acting and take responsibility for their self-harm.

 

* STAY AWAY FROM DRUGS AND ALCOHOL, even caffeine, since these have been linked to self-harm behaviors. Unless your doctor has prescribed a medication (and is aware of your self-injurious behavior), avoid all medications.

 

* NEVER SHARE razors with other people who cut themselves, since this has been identified as a potential new route of HIV transmission. Because many people who self-harm also abuse substances, those who cut might be at higher risk for carrying HIV.

 

 

If you are angry, frustrated, or restless:

• Slash an empty plastic soda bottle or a piece of heavy cardboard or an old shirt or sock.
• Make a soft cloth doll to represent the things you are angry at. Cut and tear it instead of yourself.
• Flatten aluminum cans for recycling, seeing how fast you can go.
• Hit a punching bag.
• Use a pillow to hit a wall, pillow-fight style.
• Rip up an old newspaper or phone book.
• On a sketch or photo of yourself, mark in red ink what you want to do. Cut and tear the picture.
• Make Play-Doh or Sculpey or other clay models and cut or smash them.
• Throw ice into the bathtub or against a brick wall hard enough to shatter it.
• Tear up rags
• Punch pillows
• Paint
• "Slashing" yourself with a red magic marker

·        Break sticks.

·        Crank up the music and dance.

·        Clean your room (or your whole house).

·        Go for a walk/jog/run.

·        Stomp around in heavy shoes.

·        Play handball or tennis.

·        Running

·        Swimming

·        Yard work

·        Martial arts

·        Squeezing a rubber ball till your hand hurts.

·        Scratch draw a picture on a thick piece of wood or use a screwdriver and stab at the piece of wood

·        Run around the block

·        Scream at the top of your lungs.

• Go outside and scream and yell
• Exercise or work out in some way.
• Take up a sport (a form of exercise can help you release tension, etc.)
• Draw a picture of what or who is making you angry
• Sing a song on what you are feeling. It's another way to get it outside.
• Shout if you are mad, etc. Let the words just come to you.
• Scribble on paper. Clutch the pen in your fist. It's a way to diffuse it on to paper. (Get a few sheets so they don't tear.)
• Break the object that you use to self-injure as a way to show that you have control over it.
  
  
  

 

 

If you are sad, soft, melancholy, depressed, unhappy. Do something slow and soothing, like:

 

• Taking a hot bath with bath oil or bubbles
• Curl up under a comforter with hot cocoa and a good book
• Do whatever makes you feel taken care of and comforted.
• Light sweet-smelling incense.
• Listen to soothing music.
• Smooth nice body lotion into the parts or yourself you want to hurt.
• Call a friend and just talk about things that you like.
• Make a tray of special treats and tuck yourself into bed with it and watch TV or read.

·        Visit a friend.

·        TREAT YOURSELF NICE, EVEN IF YOU FEEL YOU DON'T DESERVE IT!

·        Drink a cup of hot chocolate

·        Read a good book

·        Go to bed early.

·        Take a bubble bath in the dark with music playing.

·        Meditation

·        Physical exercise,

·        Relaxation exercises

·        Visual imagery

·        Relaxing music

·        Deep breathing

·        Put make-up on

• Leave the room or the house.
• Work in the garden.
• Dance.
• Draw.
• Get a massage.
• Work with paint, clay, play-doh, etc.

·        Go shopping.

·        Sing.

·        Clean the back porch, a closet, or mop the floors.

·        Try to find your own creative ways as outlets for emotions

• Cook a meal.
• Call a hotline or support group, or post on a message board.
• Let yourself cry.
• Hug someone.
• Help someone.
• Go to church or your place of worship

 

 

 

If you feel a craving sensation, feeling depersonalized, dissociating, feeling unreal. Do something that creates a sharp physical sensation:

• Squeeze ice hard (this really hurts). (Note: putting ice on a spot you want to burn gives you a strong painful sensation and leaves a red mark afterward, kind of like burning would.)
• Put a finger into a frozen food (like ice cream) for a minute.
• Bite into a hot pepper or chew a piece of ginger root.
• Rub liniment under your nose.
• Take a cold bath.
  Stomp your feet on the ground.
• Focus on how it feels to breathe. Notice the way your chest and stomach move with each breath.
• Jump on the computer and find someone to email. We talk about everything and anything, and I try to avoid mentioning self-injury.
• Make you whole body as tense as you can. When you release this tension, your body will feel more relaxed.
• Change the temperature of your environment. It can be either really warm or really cold. Creating such a drastic change will alter how you feel on a physical level and can also help reduce or eliminate dissociation.
• Play an audiotape or videotape of yourself that you have recorded previously. In this tape, state all the reasons why you like yourself and why you should not hurt yourself. This will raise your self-awareness and may make you feel loved.
• Plunge your arm into a bucket of ice water. The shock of the cold and the pain from this will resemble the pain from SI.

 

Others:

• The fifteen-minute game. Tell yourself that if you still want to harm yourself in 15 minutes, you can. When the time is up, see if you can go another 15. I've been able to get through a whole night that way before.