Self Help - Part VI in the Self Injury series


copies of these printed out and ready to use; you can also answer them online; your responses will be mailed privately to you and no one will see them except you.

Answer these as honestly and in as much detail as you are able to right now. No one is going to see the answers except you, and lying to yoruself is pretty pointless. If, in all honesty, you see no other answer to #8 but yes, then give yourself permission, but set definite limits. Do not allow the urge to control you; if you choose to give in to it, then choose it. Decide beforehand exactly what you will allow yourself to do and how much is enough, and stick to those limits. Keep yourself as safe as you can while injuring yourself, and take responsibility for the injury.

The questions (for more explanation, see kharre's post on the subject):

Why do I feel I need to hurt myself? What has brought me to this point? Have I been here before? What did I do to deal with it? How did I feel then? 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? Staying safe while hurting yourself A few things to keep in mind should you decide that you do need to hurt yourself: Don't share cutting implements with anyone; you can get the same diseases (hepatitis, AIDS, etc) addicts get from sharing needles. Try to keep cuts shallow. Keep first aid supplies on hand and know what to do in the case of emergencies. Do only the minimum required to ease your distress. Set limits. Decide how much you are going to allow yourself to do (how many cuts/burns/bruises, how deep/severe, how long you will allow yourself to engage in SI), keep within those boundaries, and clean up and bandage yourself later. If you can manage that much, then at least you will be exerting some control over your SI. What is "fake pain" and why does it matter? The concept of "fake pain" helps to explain why distress-tolerance skills are so crucial. Observation of myself and interviews with

The copyright of the article Self Help - Part VI in the Self Injury series in Child Mental Illness is owned by Sheri Wallace. Permission to republish Self Help - Part VI in the Self Injury series in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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