10 Tips for Reducing Self-Injury
1) Create an emergency kit. Place positive things in your kit like photos of things or people you love, notes to yourself or from friends or family, a journal for writing, markers or art supplies for artistic expression, an inspirational poem, beloved stuffed animal, upbeat music, favorite scents, and other things like that to help you dilute the urge to self-harm.
2) Use positive imagery. Visualize yourself moving through your painful moment without self-harming. Research shows that using positive visualization can keep you in-the-moment which is a key tool for recovery.
3) Hold your ground. Sensory Grounding Experiences like holding something soft, listening to soothing music, drawing or writing, for example, …show more content…
Reframe your thoughts toward helpful statements, also known as Cognitive Grounding Skills, like "Who am I really mad at?"...."What is setting me off?".... "I am safe because I can take control." These can re-orient you to the here-and-now.
5) Know your triggers. Become aware of what issues bend or break you. Try to dilute your exposure to them, call upon others to help you move through them and remind yourself that you can emerge from triggers successfully.
6) Take a detour. Re-route self-harm by using less severe forms of sensations. Holding an ice cube, tearing paper, shredding a sheet, snapping a rubber band against your skin, sucking a lemon peel, pounding a pillow are ways to diminish the need to self-injure.
7) Move your body. Consider the adrenaline rush of running, dancing, holding a yoga pose, jumping rope to offset urges to self-harm. The rush of adrenaline of these positive behaviors has been known to produce the similar chemical surge that comes from self-injury.
8) Forgive yourself. As you try to interrupt your self-harming behaviors, know that it may not come as easily some days as others. Should you find that you've lapsed into self-harming, remind yourself that change is a process. Learn to forgive and be kind to yourself as you start
1) Create an emergency kit. Place positive things in your kit like photos of things or people you love, notes to yourself or from friends or family, a journal for writing, markers or art supplies for artistic expression, an inspirational poem, beloved stuffed animal, upbeat music, favorite scents, and other things like that to help you dilute the urge to self-harm.
2) Use positive imagery. Visualize yourself moving through your painful moment without self-harming. Research shows that using positive visualization can keep you in-the-moment which is a key tool for recovery.
3) Hold your ground. Sensory Grounding Experiences like holding something soft, listening to soothing music, drawing or writing, for example, …show more content…
Reframe your thoughts toward helpful statements, also known as Cognitive Grounding Skills, like "Who am I really mad at?"...."What is setting me off?".... "I am safe because I can take control." These can re-orient you to the here-and-now.
5) Know your triggers. Become aware of what issues bend or break you. Try to dilute your exposure to them, call upon others to help you move through them and remind yourself that you can emerge from triggers successfully.
6) Take a detour. Re-route self-harm by using less severe forms of sensations. Holding an ice cube, tearing paper, shredding a sheet, snapping a rubber band against your skin, sucking a lemon peel, pounding a pillow are ways to diminish the need to self-injure.
7) Move your body. Consider the adrenaline rush of running, dancing, holding a yoga pose, jumping rope to offset urges to self-harm. The rush of adrenaline of these positive behaviors has been known to produce the similar chemical surge that comes from self-injury.
8) Forgive yourself. As you try to interrupt your self-harming behaviors, know that it may not come as easily some days as others. Should you find that you've lapsed into self-harming, remind yourself that change is a process. Learn to forgive and be kind to yourself as you start