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substitutions
Printer-friendly versioniam 16 years old and i have been cutting myself since i was 13 and burning myself for two years.
iam really tring hard to stop, its even been over a month. i still get those intense urges to cut or burn, and they are almost irresistable.
does anyone know any methods to substitute the feeling of self injuring? except for a rubber band, and ice and all that stuff i already know about those methods, i need something that will hurt good with out leaving a mark. any suggestion?
Hurting 'good' will mean it's still self-injury. It's not a substitution, no need to change names. I consider the ice and rubber band methods rather stupid, it's like cutting down to a pack a day instead of three packs a day. It's not true quitting.
Not that I'm saying you have to stop self-injuring. It's entirely up to you but don't be fooled by these lesser forms of self-injury as being anything but.
However, there is a thing or two that can hurt but isn't self-injury. I remember once reading about biting into a hot pepper to substitute for self-injury. It certainly will hurt and it's socially acceptable and will not leave a mark. Working out can release chemicals that cause pain and also cause a bit of a natural high. The latter is only good if you don't have an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia.
I think it's important to note that you will never substitute the feeling of self-injury without self-injuring. It's like how a drug addict will not be able to substitute the feeling of their drug of choice without taking that drug or another mind altering substance, legal or not. To recover you will need to be able to be uncomfortable and have urges. There are the lists of distractions and such but nothing will be like self-injury.
I'm not saying this to dissuate you but it's very difficult to achieve recovery if you're holding the illusion that there is a substitution that feels the same as self-injury.
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