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before

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 12:33 pm
by treasure
Before You Self-Harm
write down the shadow that's hiding behind the urge. look at it. ask yourself:
  • how will this situation or feeling change if i hurt myself?
    i will calm my feelings, and feel in control. i will stop myself caring about things which will help me stay calmer in the next few weeks. (nothing in particular to cope with in the next few weeks, just life :tongue:)
  • what will hurting myself bring to the situation? what will it take away from the situation?
    bring - a quick solution
    take - my 1 month free
  • how do i want to feel about this in the long run? is hurting myself likely to get me closer to or farther from feeling that way?
    i don't know. i can't get a fix on the future, like i can't believe i'll be alive in a week/month/etc. for right now the consequences of si don't matter.
  • if hurting myself seems like my best option right now, how long will the relief it brings last? what will i do then?
    the relief might last a few days? i want to watch a tv show that is on in a few min and that will distract me for an hr. but i will probably be more triggered by the end of it and more likely to si if i don't calm down asap. if i si it won't matter so much about coping cos i will be less stressed just from not trying to stop.
  • what is something i could do now instead of hurting myself? how will it change the situation i'm in? how long will that change last, and what will i do then?
    breathe. watch the ads or news break til the tv show is on. try and relax instead of working myself up. remind myself i can go to bed in an hr or 2 and then it won't matter anyway.
  • how will i feel tomorrow if i hurt myself? how will i feel tomorrow if i do the other thing i came up with?
    if i si, i'll feel crap tomorrow. if i don't i'll feel urgy, maybe sad/frustrated.
  • what do i really want to do right now? how can i best honor the self-protective instinct that has me wanting to self-injure right now?
    i want to keep to my goal of 5wks. if i can do that i might continue healthy stuff instead of wanting si as much.
  • Do I need to hurt myself?
    not really, no.

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:15 pm
by Stripe
That all sounds really positive, and I hope you managed to beat this. Maybe things will be ebtter tomorrow.
Have you developed any good, long-term coping strategies yet?