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, it was yesterday but I wanted time to reflect... Plus this is also intended to try to act for a before, or at least a distraction and an incentive to try before if needed tonight - what had happened just before?
Nothing specific, just a lot of drama, build up of a lot of things - what were you thinking and feeling?
Felt like I have no control over anything in my life, but knowing that without other people interfering I would just hide away - 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?
melt down... Felt like it was a long time coming - 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.
I can't see where I could have made a difference. apart from.... See next question... - were there outside factors like drugs, alsohol, being off your meds, lack of sleep, etc? can you address those in the future? how?
I keep forgetting to take my meds, I must get better at that. Also had a major busy weekend (which I enjoyed at the time), but with other situations at home it was a hard jolt to reality - what other ways of coping did you try besides self-harm? how well did they work?
Nothing really... Just really felt I needed it. It's been on my mind for a long long time - in retrospect, are there coping methods that you now realize might have helped? what were they?
I could have tried reading, just laying in bed and reading instead of focusing on my internal things - name at least two things you will do to help yourself remember those coping methods if you end up in this situation again.
No answer to this, because I'm wanting/needing it again right now - 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?
All I can do is try and get more time to myself. but external factors are almost impossible to get away from right now - are you likely to be in that emotional place again? how will you recognize it when you're in that situation?
In it already - 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. Sorry, I can't answer this
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?
Thinking about it for a long time... That's all - Did you make an opportunity or was it there for the taking?
kinda both. I can always make the opportunity, just yesterday, I did - What would you have done if there was no opportunity, how would you have handled your urge?
- If there had been no opportunity would your urge to self-harm have increased or decreased? probably decreased short term
- What consitutes opportunity for you? Being alone? having new tools? waiting for the right feeling? the feeling, and having waited and resisted for too long
- If your opportunties were taken away, how would you feel? I would make opportunities if I found myself in the space I found myself in last night
How do you beat your urges? Examine how you beat the last one so it can help you beat the next one.
Couldn't answer the rest, sorry