Self Injury: Types, Alternatives, and Where to get Help

I've tried effortless to tell my doctor that I have trichotillomania, a hair pulling disorder labeled under Self-injury. To no avail. My doctor seems to ignore what I know, yet I find the facts here in this forum. I still pull out my hair, and I know how it started. When I was 4 years old, my brother set my long-flowing blonde hair that hang to my knees on fire. It burned to neck length before my parents awoke and put out the blaze. I was extremely traumatized as a result. While I cannot call the incident in depth, I am aware it happened. I think healing for me is going to come with seeing the experience in full light.

I have tried every tactic on my own to treat the condition as I cannot seem to make my doctor listen. So I rely on Cognitive Behavior therapy and Subliminal Learning to assist me. If someone can offer advice to help me make my doctor listen, I would appreciate it.

Regards
Magster
www.online-therapy.com
http://cbtherapy.org

that's a terrible incident to happen to u when you were younger.

My skin specialist had no idea about my trichotillomania induced scars - they said i just had sensitive skin when i plucked my hair (underarms, which are horribly scarred)and should switch to shaving. that was a waste of money

maybe go to another doctor, more specifically, a pyschologist? Although i myself want to heal my trich without psychotherapy / drugs

my thoughts are with you

Is there any chance that i am getting a hair extensions and i get an head injury cause of its pressure , somebody told me this , until that day i am getting scary about my future injury, please guide me here , and i am not getting any response from anyone.

I would like to start a thread with people's suggestions for alternatives for cutting. A positive thread. People can give their experiences and outcomes with different alternatives. I would be forever grateful if this thread got stickied by the mods as I feel its important for people to be exposed to different ideas if they are seeking help.

Some of my suggestions include:

1. Holding an ice cube.

2. Rubber-band on the wrist.

3. Marking your place of cutting with a red marker. Slash away with a marker. Make it seem real.

4. Smear around and play with vibrant red paint. Write words, paint pictures, just smear it. Anything. Revel in the vibrant red.

I personally enjoy the paint the best. It reminds me to the most of blood. And sometimes it can come out in an artistic fashion.

Anyone have any other mechanisms you came up with and could share? Or your experiences with them?

Pealing an orange with both hands, tearing some paper (that maybe you've written down bad feelings on) can help too.
Very good idea, Marilyn! I'm gonna sticky this.

I read... When I really need to cut, I find a very quiet place, usually somewhere very bright and outside. and I read. I always carry a book with me in my pocket. And I try to get into it, so that I forget completely about what's going on.

It doesn't always work, but it's helped me when I'm on the go, or in the middle of my work day.

I like the tearing of paper idea, Jasmin. It definitely inspires a sense of violence, hearing the rips and all.

Pikachu, books are really helpful for me too. I remember in my hospital stay, Wuthering Heights got me through the stay. I almost finished the whole book.

I'd just like to say that I had a hard time today not cutting. My brother finally talked to me about him abusing me. It was a very emotional and heart-wrenching scene. When he left I didn't know what to do with my emotions. I really had the urge to cut. But I refrained and painted emotional pictures in my diary, along with blasting music in my ears. I am now quite composed. So I'm rather proud of myself!

Tomorrow, during therapy, I'm going to ask my therapist if I can paint in my diary while we talk so I can try to stay calm and focused rather than feeling out of control. It really does help me, the act of smearing around the paint. It's calming and keeps me in control.

I like the elastic band thing that works really well for me. Although I have to be careful not to cause bruises.

I have tried the units of time thing also recently. I break it up smaller and smaller the worse it gets. Sometimes I go right down to five minutes. I'll see if I can get through five minutes before I cut. When I get through 5 minutes I give myself another 5. I have to make it a challenge though. So I can 'prove' to myself I am stronger than the urges.

When I was doing this the other day I decided to try something else as well. I am a chocoholic so every time I made it through 5 minutes I left the room where my blades were went to the kitchen and ate a square of chocolate. It seems really stupid now and then it was hard to concentrate on the chocolate but I think it did help. Maybe it was the act of forcing myself to get up and do something else just for 30 seconds that helped to break through the cycle?

Sorry to hear about your experiences last weekend, but it is good that you managed to contain your urges and you should feel proud of yourself.

Before I start on what I want to say, I've been clean from cutting for a year and a half and before that I cut for two years (with a 4 month break somewhere in there).

I want to make this very clear, I don't have a problem with "alternatives for cutting" strategies. I think they're useful, and people who feel the strong pull of addiciton when it comes to stopping the habit of cutting should find other ways to deal. I also want to say that fighting the urger to cut is more a mental thing than a physical thing. Distraction techniques only work to a point, and then only if you put the will power in to back them.

The real fight is within your own mind, not with what your hands are doing. Distractions work so well because they give you something else to think about, rather than something else to do. The problem occurs when you find that you no longer have anything that will hold your interest. I'm sure a lot of people on this forum have felt like, even though there's a lot of stuff around that you could do, there's nothing that you want to do. It feels like nothing can help. Or you could be in a setting where there are limited options. Now, think about that kind of situation. What do you do then? Well, you enlist the help of your willpower and reasoning skills to fight the urge. It's a tough battle and it takes a lot of time and effort to really get that one down, but I believe it's pretty crucial in leaving cutting behind for good. Addiction is a tough thing to battle.

That said, I find these things to be helpful alternatives:
- Reading
- Playing music, rather than listening (creativity is amazing for this kind of feeling)
- Writing
- Exercise
- Immersing yourself in some other, more productive obsession. Teach yourself the first 50 digits of pi, create a piece of art, improve your fitness, or read all about the French Revolution. Whatever works.
- Talk to someone. You can talk about how you feel, but try not to get too bogged down in it. Talking to someone about normal things can give you a better grip on reality, show you that things can be and will be normal again. You won't feel that way forever.

If you teach your brain, through conscious decision making, that when you want to cut, you can go on with your normal life, then it will become habit. If normal things don't work, then obviously it's better for you to move onto another idea, but that's why I like the things I've mentioned above. They're all normal day to day things. Not so much the obsession bit, but it can be if you find something that really interests you. Not all my ideas will work for everyone, we're all different, but I just thought I'd put my ideas out there.

Can sport help in better condition, not just for sportos, even sex, mental, health condition ? so will avoid SELF injuring..