katlin09

For any SH/SI'er who is interested here are some coping skills my Psychologist gave me:

okay, let's rehash some alternative coping skills...put your tight rubber band on your wrist, not so tight that it cuts the circulation off, and everytime you have the slightest urge, snap the crap out of that rubberband, and your wrist.

Next, if you cut for the pain of it, fill a bowl with ice, wet your hand then tape a ziploc baggy over it, thrust your hand in the bowl of ice for 5 - 10 minutes or until you cannot stand it....it will hurt like a son of a b****. If it doesn't get rid of the urge...keep doing it over and over again.

If you need the symbolic part of it, seeing the blood, put a very tight non latex glove on, I use the Mr. Clean brand 'cuz they are see through and it looks like my skin....I use a red marker to act like I'm cutting myself then take red food coloring and drip it down my hand over the glove....my brain gets the symbolic message that it needs and if it doesn't I repeat it until it does.


Get one of those, autograph bears, or dolls, that are plain white....cut them with red markers, wherever you want to cut yourself, write your name on the dolls forehead and let it be you and cut(mark) it as much as you want....without actually harming yourself.

Take paintballs or silly putty and either outside or inside hurl them at a wall as hard as you can, take all the hurt, pain, stress, distress, etc. and put that energy into that silly putty or paintball and as it splatters on the wall let your imagination see that as you cutting yourself.

Try these okay, or at least one of them....anything except hurting yourself. Remember you're strong and you can go without hurting yourself. And we are all here for each other.

The whole point of alternative coping skills is to take your distress and the energy behind it and put that into whatever the alternative action is that you chose to do to replace harming yourself.


Try to remember this Sentence:

I can leave the past in the past and start the rest of my life and future from this point on!

kat