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Coping Skills

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What is the best alternative besides cutting?

This one is subjective. Some people begin to find their coping skills by looking at the list of distractions that float around the internet. self-injury.net's is here: http://self-injury.net/information-recovery/recovery/distractions . However, the distractions list should only be the starting point.

It's important you find what can stand in for self-injury for you. Whether it be gathering a circle of support - friends, family, therapists/psychiatrists, etc. - and contacting somebody from that circle of support to talk when you feel you might self-injure. Other people may not want to talk at all. They'd rather write out their feelings or draw or do something creative that instead of staving off the feelings of self-injury in hopes they might dissipate expresses the thoughts or feelings behind the craving to harm themselves. Other people might exercise (so long as this isn't done in conjunction with an eating disorder) or engage in a sport so they might physically get out the feelings that get them wanting to self-injure. At least for that particular triggering time.

I'm wary of the distractions/coping skills that call for things like holding ice or snapping a rubberband against the skin. While not exactly the same as cutting, burning, etc. these rely on physical pain to get people to feel better. They are lesser forms. Which is all well and good for a time but without a stronger foundation for coping, for getting out the feelings that lead to self-injury, then it's really just the same thing, except without the scarring.

People don't all respond the same so you might need to go through the distractions list or the ones I've mentioned and find which appeals. It's good to see a counselor or therapist if you think it might be helpful so that they might be a more neutral support system (if they are a good therapist, a number of therapists are unequipped to deal with self-injury in a positive way) and so that they might guide you into finding your ideal way of coping.

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Amythyst77 Ask a Question published by 2 years ago ()