Have you taken care of your physiacl wounds? if not, go do that now. we'll wait. Yes
What had happened just before? This is stupid, but here goes. I had made an agreement with my husband that I would get an hour "alone time" each night to journal, go on the message boards, etc. I was getting so depressed each night after work our marriage councelier thought it might help. Last night I had a little bit of homework left to do for my Saturday class. My husband made a comment like okay this goes towards your hour. My son needed to use the computer. So I did my homework which took about 20 minutes and did do my hour. A little later I just went downhill mood wise very fast. I just got really depressed and in alot of pain.
What were you thinking and feeling? That I had to get out of pain. I was afraid if I let it go too long I would hurt myself too much.
why did you end up hurting yourself then instead of some other time? was there an event that was teh final straw? what was it? I guess I really needed some alone time. I had several things come up through out the day where I did what someone else wanted me to do when I really didn't want to do it.
How did the situation get to the final straw stage? trace it back through the events thatled up to the last event. look for some point at which you could have made a different decisiona nd not arrived at the final straw.
I have traced it back in earlier questions. I just don't know why my mood dropped so much so fast.
Were there outside factors like drugs, alcohol, being off your meds, lack of sleep, etc? can you address those in the future? how? Maybe lack of sleep. I haven't been sleeping very well. My husband and I have been married for 15 years. He has always come up with an excuse of why he couldn't sleep in our bed. Recently after I told him some of the things that I had a problem with in our marriage, he has started sleeping in our bed. The problem is we haven't done this our whole marriage and I am having a hard time sleeping some nights.
What other ways of coping did you try besides self-harm? how well did they work? I'll be honest. This time I just tried to ignore it, but didn't try the things I would normally try. I was just in too much pain.
In retrospect, are there coping methods that you now realize might have helped? what were they? I'm trying to find something that will work in this situation. It seems to be when the pain gets past a certain point, I can't find anything else that will help. I need to review the coping list again and see if I can find something. Sometimes I take a sleeping pill and go to bed.
How do you feel about the situation that led to self-harm now? is it resolved? if not, what are some steps you might take toward resolution? I think the last straw was a stupid thing to set this off. So what I didn't get my hour. I shouldn't resort to this. Whats crazy is that I wanted to be able to say I have been SI free for a week, two weeks, ... I was thinking about yesterday morning...
Are you likely to be in that emotional place again? how will you recognize it when you're in that situation? Yes, most likely. I need to recognize my mood before it gets to this point so that I can use a coping method earlier.
What will you try before you resort to self-harm if you're in that situation again? list three specific things you will commit to trying.
1. Earlier recognition
2. Journal or message board
3. Watch a tv show, read a book, do a puzzle...
Thanks, Terri
