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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.
  they were nothing bad
  
  
• what had happened just before?
  i was having a bit of a panic attack i guess, feeling stressed about work and wndering if i really had anyhting to loose
  
  
• what were you thinking and feeling?
  i was thining that if i cut it'd clear my head and let me get on with some of my work, i was also thinking that maybe i hadn't really stopped before and so it wouldn[t be a big deal if I sied
  
  
• 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?
  the realisation that i had been self harming in other ways for the last few years anyway so i don't really have anyhting to loose, it was all just too much
  
  
• 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 don't think i could have changed the situation, but i thin that i should have coped better with it.
  
  
• were there outside factors like drugs, alsohol, being off your meds, lack of sleep, etc? can you address those in the future? how?
  no have been doing well with the alcohol thing, am exercising and on meds and sleeping ok at the mo, was just stress
  
  
• what other ways of coping did you try besides self-harm? how well did they work?
  distractions, games, before questions (although i probably should have tried again with those) they work fine but don't let me get on with my work
  
  
• in retrospect, are there coping methods that you now realize might have helped? what were they?
  should have done the b4 questions again and i should have tried talking to a friend but i dnd't want to burden them
  
  
• name at least two things you will do to help yourself remember those coping methods if you end up in this situation again.
  before questions
  call a friend or chat online
  
  
• 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 still have the wor to do if it was that that led to this, i guess i just have to get on with it
  
  
• are you likely to be in that emotional place again? how will you recognize it when you're in that situation?
  yes becasue until this work is handed in i;m gonna keep getting these feelings.
  
  
• 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.
  before questions
  call a friend
  distract myself for longer

About Opportunities to SI
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?
  i think (although i don't like admitting it) that i've been looking for an excuse for a long time, i needed to remind myself what it felt lie although i don't really know why
  
  
• Did you make an opportunity or was it there for the taking?
  a bit of both, i think i made it worse than it could have been i've coped with similar stuff before so i guess i let it get to where it was
  
  
• What would you have done if there was no opportunity, how would you have handled your urge?
  it wouldn't have been there, or it would have been smaller so i could have delt with it
  
  
• If there had been no opportunity would your urge to self-harm have increased or decreased?
  decreased
  
  
• What consitutes opportunity for you? Being alone? having new tools? waiting for the right feeling?
  waiting for the right feelings, having the tools also helps i guess and obviously i can't do it unless i'm alone
  
  
• If your opportunties were taken away, how would you feel?
  frustrated maybe but probably better in the long run

Hi birdie,

I'm sorry about your slip.

If your diss is a big trig, is there anything you can do to try and sort that out? Talk to your profs about strugglng, talk to your friends, set yourself deadlines?

Gwylan

Hi caged bird

It sucks to lose a large streak that you've gone without SI; I've done it myself. But try not to be too hard on yourself - you know that you've gone a long time before, so therefore you can do it again. And no one can take those three years away from you.

It does sound like you learned from this; I'm hearing that you've pretty much identified what the trigger was, and acknowledged that you'll have to be careful if you encounter it again. You listed some coping mechanisms that were useful, even if only for a short time. You also listed some new ones that you will try next time.

You strike me as having approached this slip (and that's what it is - just a slip) very honestly, and I think that the information that you got from doing so will really help for next time you're triggered.

Did you see Smeagol's post about addressing the academic side of things? Are any of her ideas options?

Take gentle care.

thanks for the replies. there's very little i can do about the dissertation i can't get any sort of extension or it doesn't go to exam borad in time and i don't get to graduate. i've set myself deadlines (i took positive steps a few wees ago to eep me on track) but i'm struggling to meet them. if i don't i won't pas the year but i'm finding it really hard and i don't really like my personal tutor so don't really want to go and chat to her

i might though

*k*