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

AmberMarie wrote:, or i smoke a cigarette

Normally smoking is my distraction from anything... but is I smoke when I want to cut I end up burning myself with the cigarette or lighter; so maybe not one for everyone?

Rather than holding ice; I find breaking ice is good. It's a bit agressive; and requires concentration; and it gives you a bit of a numb feeling... also if you do it for long enough your hands are too cold to hold anything properly to then cut.

So far I think these are maybe more Distractions than Alternatives.

In terms of actual alternatives; I guess it depends what you gain from cutting... if it's literally the endorphines; try exercise.

I've tried some of the techniques with red paint; or marker pens, and I think I'm too literal for that to work for me... I can't get the "der it's just ink/paint" thought out of my head.

I find smashing glass bottles into a bottle bank works well and is very satisfying

Cracked

I play a video-game.

I suppose this only works if you like video-games, but I'm one of those people who could play for 24 hours straight and commonly forgets to eat because I'm only 30% away from hitting level 25 and at level 25 I get that new ability I want--

It sucks me in and keeps me occupied for an inordinate length of time, and then my urge has passed. Although, I also sometimes dig my nails into my arm/palm or bite my cheek, but not hard enough to draw blood, just enough to feel that kind of clench. That's probably not a good alternative, but at least I can stop before I do damage, because doing damage takes time.

I've tried all of these alternatives over the past 10 years and the only ones that seemed to work was ripping paper and the elastic band. Ripping paper just stopped doing it for me, and I only just harmed myself in other ways resulting in welts with the elastic band (which scared me as it really showed me how bad I was at that moment). I said in another thread about body art, and I can't afford that right now.

I'm in such an anxious bad way at the moment.I don't want to cut because I'm going on holiday in 4 days time and it doesn't give scabs enough time to heal, so I don't want to have to deal with really visible and fresh scars, but it's killing me inside. I need that release - I need that feeling we all get and I don't know how to obtain it The friction is causing me such a headache. Does anyone have any more ideas?

http://www.secrettalk.com/secrets/210-t ... /14316931/

Loads of good ideas in that list..

'Having a pillowfight with the wall (yes, neighbours may think you are crazy, but that's ok) '
'Feed the ducks or birds or squirrels, etc.'
'learn a new language'

I use those ^

That is a great list thank you

Cracked

To Lorelai:

I made an account just to respond to you. I have also never been able to find a proper substitute for cutting that satisfies the urge quite like body modification does. I'm a young wife and my husband and I are poor college students, so like you I don't have the money to get tattoos or piercings whenever I'm overcome with the urge to cut. However, and maybe this will work for you too, the affordable modification method I've found that satisfies the urge for me is gauging up the first pierced hole in my earlobes. I've got them up to 0g right now, and don't intend to go higher than 00g. What I plan to do when I get there is take the plugs out, let the holes shrink (they probably won't get smaller than 8g or so, though), and do it all over again.

At any given time, if I'm hit with a particularly strong urge to cut, I'll take the plugs out for five or six hours, which shrinks the holes just a tad - enough for there to be a small amount pain involved getting the plugs back in. Often, just that simple thing is enough to keep me from carving myself up like a turkey.

Glass plugs aren't that expensive on that relatively well-known auction site, so it makes it an affordable way to satisfy the urge.

Anyway...I hope it helps you, or someone else.

That is a really good idea

Cracked

One procedure that good psychiatrists like Laing followed, and most psychiatrists completely ignore,b and emphasized was finding the case agitator, someone close to the client who is constantly pushing her buttons, described here:

"The most interesting research I've come across into the causes of mental illness concerns the influence of certain common parental/significant other behaviour towards children - behaviour by adults that is calculated and deliberate, the purpose being to disturb the developing mind of the infant/child, behaviour that is often very subtle (as noted by R D Laing and others ... Laing's observations being a detailed expansion on what people had been noting for centuries - that "mad" people are very often victims of the way they were treated in childhood).

It has been found that the victim-type mental illness sufferer's brain has developed abnormally as a consequence of the way an adult or adults treated them when they were young.

Many people on psychiatric medication are victims of their parents' deliberate psychological and emotional abuse.

I've met several adult schizophrenics who submissively call their mother "mummy". Why do they do that?

Laing pointed the finger at mothers of schizophrenics.

I actually observe mothers behaving in a way towards usually just one of their offspring that is calculated to drive it mad.

When the child reaches adulthood it's brain is subtly structural different from those who are "sane".

I could write a 'Mother's Manual' on 'How to drive a child mad'.

When one accepts that some people with mental illness are products of their experiences at the hands of their parents one can observe it going on and can predict which children are going to go mad as a consequence of the way their parents are treating them.

My point is ... the parents behaviour is the 'biological cause' - for many of the more complex schizophrenias." ~Newton's Cat
More about these kinds of people- the antisocial- and how to deal with them, here:
Edited by Mod

The group dynamics of the person are absolutely crucial to case resolution, a term rarely found in the main stream.

LightsaberChopstick wrote:To Lorelai:

I made an account just to respond to you. I have also never been able to find a proper substitute for cutting that satisfies the urge quite like body modification does. I'm a young wife and my husband and I are poor college students, so like you I don't have the money to get tattoos or piercings whenever I'm overcome with the urge to cut. However, and maybe this will work for you too, the affordable modification method I've found that satisfies the urge for me is gauging up the first pierced hole in my earlobes. I've got them up to 0g right now, and don't intend to go higher than 00g. What I plan to do when I get there is take the plugs out, let the holes shrink (they probably won't get smaller than 8g or so, though), and do it all over again.

At any given time, if I'm hit with a particularly strong urge to cut, I'll take the plugs out for five or six hours, which shrinks the holes just a tad - enough for there to be a small amount pain involved getting the plugs back in. Often, just that simple thing is enough to keep me from carving myself up like a turkey.

Glass plugs aren't that expensive on that relatively well-known auction site, so it makes it an affordable way to satisfy the urge.

Anyway...I hope it helps you, or someone else.

Hi there, thank you for your advice. I do think it's great advice as it's something I've already done and it helped for SUCH a long time because it was that release that wasn't harmful. I got up to 0.8 and was quite satisfied. I used plugs instead of tunnels because people were less likely to comment. I met someone last year and for about 7 months they didn't notice I had them in, but one day we saw someone with HUGE tunnels in and she expressed her disgust for that kind of thing. That week I immediately took them out

I downloaded Plants vs Zombies on my iPod Touch and that seems to do the trick lately Also, what I've found has helped is my desire for the people close to me to NOT know that I do this, which stops me from cutting. I never want any of them to find out or see, because I would feel weak and I'm scared they'd pity me and treat me differently.