Self-injury is a physical expression of emotional pain, where harm to the body is done to cope with intense emotional turmoil. Self-injury is often (but not always) accompanied with other concerns, such as depression, anxiety, a history of abuse or neglect, and issues with addiction. Self-injury is most often not a suicide attempt, but can become lethal if significant harm is done to the body, and as such is a particularly dangerous form of coping. The good news is that there is hope, and learning new ways of coping is possible.
Examples of Self-Injury:
- Burning
- Cutting
- Scratching
- Punching/hitting walls or immovable objects
Things You Can Do:
If you are worried that you might hurt yourself:
- Use thought-stopping, such as telling yourself "NO!" out loud, or "STOP!" This can help to get outside of any intense feelings.
- Use a delayed gratification strategy. Give yourself 15-20 minutes to see if the urge to self-harm passes. After that time interval has passed and you still have the urge, see if you can wait another specified time interval.
- Stop the tape. We often have images and self-talk that we keep replaying in our minds without our conscious awareness. Check in with yourself to see if you have a destructive tape playing. Visualize popping out this tape of images, and putting in another tape that gives more hopeful and encouraging messages.
- Do something else. Take a walk, call a friend, journal, stream a movie. The urge will pass in time, and keeping yourself occupied through this process can help.
- Do something comforting for yourself. Wrap yourself in a favorite blanket, take a bath with scented bath products, give yourself a manicure. Physical comfort can often be a way of soothing the distress without resorting to self-injury. Learn to develop skills in tolerating and coping with emotions in more adaptive ways. Great places to learn are therapy groups, individual therapy, and reading more about developing these skills. It helps to have a lot of support, so consider the benefits of therapy, and take care in choosing a therapist with whom you feel comfortable.
- Learn assertive communication. Although this is a longer-term strategy, it will pay off over time, empowered yourself in relationships and nurturing greater self-trust in being able to take care of yourself.
- If you decide to hurt yourself, experiment with using less destructive methods, such as holding ice cubes or immersing your hand in cold water (which can give the same pain response, but without long-term marks that you might feel embarrassed about later). You might also use a red marker on the area where you want to see blood, or wear a rubber band and snap it on your wrist until you get the pain response.
- Remind yourself that change takes time and that you are a work in progress. Congratulate yourself on getting through this difficult time.
If you have anxiety that is so overwhelming it interferes significantly, then some combination of counseling and/or medication can be helpful. Seek professional help.
Help is Available
It may benefit you to talk to someone at the Counseling Center. Stop by during our Initial Consultation hours Monday-Friday 8:30-11:00 a.m. & 1:00-4:00 p.m., or call (828) 262-3180. We can talk with you about your concerns. You may also learn more by checking our other links, or completing an online screening.
Crisis Services
If you or another AppState student is experiencing suicidal and/or homicidal thoughts or experiencing trauma in regard to a sexual assault, you may contact us after hours by calling the Counseling Center at (828) 262-3180 and select the option to speak with the counselor on call.
