Questions to Answer After A Slip
slips are chances to learn. you figure out what stresses are still too hard for you and you can work on how you'll deal with them next time you run into
them. so instead of beating yourself up, take action.
- have you taken care of your physical wounds? if not, go do that now. we'll wait.
Yes. - what had happened just before?
I was talking with a nurse and feeling quite chaotic. - what were you thinking and feeling?
I was feeling a lot of chaos. I thought I could never come out and couldn't hold on yet had to prove I was good enough. - why did you end up hurting yourself then instead of some other time? was there an event that was the final straw? what was it?
Not really. I'd been having urges for several days. - how did the situation get to the final straw stage? trace it back through the events that led up to the last event. look for some point at which you could have made a different decision and not arrived at the final straw.
The nurse was trying to comfort me. I could've accepted the comforting and accepted her offer to go for a walk (I did eventually, but only after the SI). - were there outside factors like drugs, alsohol, being off your meds, lack of sleep, etc? can you address those in the future? how?
No, there were no outside factors. - what other ways of coping did you try besides self-harm? how well did they work?
Talking to the nurse. Didn't work. After the slip up, walking. That did work. - in retrospect, are there coping methods that you now realize might have helped? what were they?
Not sure. - name at least two things you will do to help yourself remember those coping methods if you end up in this situation again.
Don't know. - 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?
Yes, it's resolved. - are you likely to be in that emotional place again? how will you recognize it when you're in that situation?
Yes, I'm in that place most of the time when I'm front. Elfgirl will recognize that I'm front. I wqill recognize the emotional state by thoughts about having to hold on and not being able to hold on, etc. - 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.
Be comforted by a nurse, walk, go online.
Opportunity to Self-Harm seems to be a common theme. Think about why opportunities are important to slips and learn why opportunity is important
to you.
- What made that opportunity more appealing than any other?
No-one was around. - Did you make an opportunity or was it there for the taking?
It was there. - What would you have done if there was no opportunity, how would you have handled your urge?
Not sure. - If there had been no opportunity would your urge to self-harm have increased or decreased?
Probably decreased. - What consitutes opportunity for you? Being alone? having new tools? waiting for the right feeling?
Being alone mostly. - If your opportunties were taken away, how would you feel?
I would feel constant chaos with no way to cope.