i am new here. i am gettiing counceling right now and it is helping alot but i feel like this is never going to end. i’ve self-injured for almost 8 years and i’m just so tired of fighting the urges. SI is easier to deal with than everything else. i’ve tried to stop before but its never worked, not permently anway. right now i’m trying to find replacements but nothing seems to make things “feel better” like S.I. does. at times i feel like i’m going to go crazy. i can’t go on like this for much longer. this is truely and addiction.
Replacing one behavior for another isn’t always the best thing in the long run, but it can get you through the moment because ANYTHING can become addicting.
For me, what I have found that works, is to keep my hands busy. Sometimes I hurt myself out of boredom or because I don’t have a way to PHYSICALLY express myself. Using my hands to create something works, at least it works enough of the time for me to not give up on trying! I crochet, draw, type (write or blog online sometimes too), make little creatures out of modeling clay… etc… *anything* to keep my hands busy that has a physical outcome that I can see (the picture drawn, 10 rows on my newest afghan, a new post on my blog).
Urges come and go, so finding something to fill the moments during and around the urge have been helpful for to me give in just a little bit less. I actually picked up crochet as an “alternative to self-injury” and I have spent hours upon hours making things for other people at night when I was urging because crochetting allowed me to use my hands in a positive way, rather than negative, and then gave me something to give to those I love and care about. Crochet has become my new addiction 🙂 I have truly found a way to express myself AND get rid of the nervous energy I have in my hands, which usually accompanies the urge to hurt myself.
What have you found so far or what have you tried so far to help you get through the urges? Is doing something physical helpful or do you need to get away from everything (like going for a walk, sitting in a quiet room) or do you need to be around people (go walking around the mall or grocery store or sitting in the library at school/ college)? What have you found, if anything, so far that brings some comfort or sedation to your urges? I will gladly share some of the other activities I have tried to help reduce my urges, but I don’t want to give you a long list of things you have already tried 🙂
I really haven’t found too much. Nothing seems to be ‘good enough’ or do the same thing. I think i need to get out and be around people. i am not good on my own at all. i write alot but sometimes thats not even good because i end up writing about it, sometime in great detail which isn’t good either. i’m very frustrated and sometimes wonder if all the insanity of trying not to do it is worth it. I totally obsess about it and the longer i go with out doing it it gets worse. if i just do it i feel like i can think straight. But also, even when i’m happy and feeling okay i want to do it. I feel like i need it like air.
i’ll take any suggestions you’ve got, thanks:)