Stopping self harming

@Cinta What does self harming provide you?
what’s it’s purpose?

I can understand it being an addiction, I use to be addicted to it too. But not anymore.

I'm glad you were able to stop!

I don't really know the purpose anymore other than it just makes me feel good. I guess part of it is validation, like my problems feel real. When I go to hospital and I get told it's bad I feel like it means what I'm feeling is as bad as I think it is

Is there anything else that provides that ‘feel good’?

and yes, I get that needing to feel validated. I guess I have experienced similar in that I’ve always liked it when I need stitches… cause it means what I am feeling is as bad as I think too.

but it’s not good for us. And you want to stop. Have you tried intensive exercise?

I've get to find anything that gives me the same high as self harming unfortunately.

I've tried intense exercise but I'm very obese so I find it too hard. I guess part of me doesn't feel ready to give up self harming

Hi @Cinta ,

There are many layers to self-harm. Like what @Bow mentioned, it's important to know what is driving the self-harm.

I also self-harmed for years. It was truly an addiction. My mind was filled with SH all day long. I could and would do anything to SH.

Since engaging in therapy, I no longer feel the need to SH.

I used to feel like I 'failed' each time I SH because I really didn't want to do it - but it was serving a purpose. The more I SH'd to feel better, the worse I felt.

I had one very experienced therapist. All my life, I was told self-harming was bad and I shouldn't do it. However, this very experienced therapist never said these things. Rather he said, "If you have to do it, do it safely". This was the first time I was not 'told off' for doing it. I was not made to feel bad for doing it.... this was the beginning of stopping SH.

This therapist knew how to work with the underlying issue of emotional dysregulation and hurt that was driving me to SH.

Without even blinking an eyelid when I mentioned my SH, I soon stopped it without even trying.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share my experiences with SH and for you to know that SH'ing doesn't mean you are a failure or that you are 'bad'.

There IS recovery.

I have not sh in nearly 5 years I used to do it daily I agree with the others that the reasons you are doing it are the key to stopping for me I just kind of stopped one day and didnt go back but anyway it is possible you just need to find what drives it and then find another way to combat the problem.