before

[herebedragons]

how will this situation or feeling change if i hurt myself?


The feeling will change in that I will feel calmer

what will hurting myself bring to the situation? what will it take away from the situation?

bring- the above mentioned calmness, an end to obsessive thoughts about cutting (probably only tempararily though)
take- not sure. maybe some of my feelings of control?

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?

in the long run I probably want to feel like a responcible adult. So further then.


if hurting myself seems like my best option right now, how long will the relief it brings last? what will i do then?

length of relief will probably depend largely upon the extent of the injury.

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?

I could sleep (well if I could sleep, way too keyed up right now that's one reason I want to cut, if I cut then I could sleep.) have sex, talk with my husband.

how will i feel tomorrow if i hurt myself? how will i feel tomorrow if i do the other thing i came up with?

not sure.


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 be calmer, I want to not feel so keyed up. I want to be less anxious.


urges aren't necessarily the enemy. they happen for reasons, and they're an expression of a desire to stay alive and stay sane and keep coping. remember that.

More Before Questions To Answer



Why do I feel I need to hurt myself? What has brought me to this point?

I want to si because I miss it and because it helps my anxiety. The anxiety is probably been building up due to problems with my MS and the whole holiday fun thing.

Have I been here before? What did I do to deal with it? How did I feel then?

Yes. A multitude of ways including SI. Ok my husband wants to go to bed gotta go.


What I have done to ease this discomfort so far? What else can I do that won't hurt me?


How do I feel right now?


How will I feel when I am hurting myself?


How will I feel after hurting myself? How will I feel tomorrow morning?


Can I avoid this stressor, or deal with it better in the future?


Do I need to hurt myself?

[syn]

You talk about wanting to feel calmer, and I have to believe there are more ways for you to feel calm. Does music help? What about a good book? Talking to someone? There are a lot of possibilities, it might be worth hopping over to the sourcebook for some coping skills for becoming calm.

[herebedragons]

Thank you for your reply. I do need to work on my coping mechs for anxiety, I will check out the coping board.