Update

Hi all!

I would like to apologize for the lack of posts lately. I am trying to juggle my last semester as a college student, an internship, and my own depression. I can’t guarantee a regular post, but hopefully I’ll be able to post enough for my lovely followers!

Stay tuned for a self-harm care package post, and a post about the importance of trigger warnings.

Getting Help

depressionexists

Hello my lovely bloggers,

Yep, I’ve been away from my blog way too much lately and was hoping to be back blogging this week.

Well, I am back – but not in a way I thought I would be. I went to see my psychiatrist today and we made the decision to admit me into hospital tomorrow morning (being yesterday, now). It’s not where I want to be but I have to be honest to my readers and to myself. And the truth is I just can’t make it alone right now. I kind of need a breather from life and need to get my head back down to earth and out of the hell it’s taking me into. I adore my sons, family, friends and the blogging community and this is the right course of action for me to be healthy. I’ve said it many times before that Bipolar…

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Methods For Stopping Self-Harm

“Behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations are all linked; each influences the others. Therefore, by changing what happens in one area, you also change what occurs in the others. The ultimate goal is to alter each of these areas enough so that you not only no longer hurt yourself but you also no longer feel the desire or need to hurt yourself.”

Many people don’t realize that any form of self-harm (be it cutting, burning, scratching, etc.) can often turn to an addiction. If anyone has studied psychology, or knows someone with a drug/alcohol addiction,  then you know it’s not simple for that person to just stop the harmful behavior. Like any form of addiction, realizing you have a problem and feeling the need to make change your habit is the first step to getting you “clean.” It takes hard work, dedication, and a strong will-power. It’s not going to be easy, and you shouldn’t be doing it for anyone but yourself. This post will cover a few methods for preventing/delaying the urge to self-harm, and hopefully if you practice these enough, you will be able to stop all together.

Blog Reflection

As the semester comes to a close, I decided to make a reflection to see where I’ve come with this blog and what I got out of it.

Note: Not sure if it’s just my computer, but this video was kind of loud. Headphones aren’t recommended.

Also: I apologize if the video looks like it was edited in 3 minutes (because it was). I have a lot of deadlines I need to meet, so I just kind of rushed with this video.

Thanks again to everyone who has stuck with me since the beginning! Your support means a lot! Stay strong!

-Brittany

Understanding depression

“Just because someone with depression has a better day, doesn’t mean that person got BETTER. A day can still be gray without any rain.”

 

Shifting The Goal Posts Is Okay

Infinite Sadness... or hope?

Recently I have seen a  number of statements and general topics on social media formats which show what I see as a resignation by sufferers of mental illnesses to a belief that the point at which they are now is where they’re going to be for life.  Examples of statements include:

“It’s beyond happiness now, I just have to exist”

“Getting better is no longer an option”

“I will be depressed for the rest of my life.”

I am the first to say that I have been at that point myself.  Ten years ago I simply believed that happiness was not an option for me, and that yes, how my life was then would be how it always would be.

Nothing took away any sense of hope more than these statements.  Actually there was no hope (in my mind) , and I was simply existing.  If I had read a post like…

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“Mental illness…

“Mental illness is like fighting a war where the enemy’s strategy is to convince you that the war isn’t actually happening.”

–nowthatsanairship

Misconception about self-harm: #1

#1: Everyone who self-harms is suicidal.

People often associate self harm with attempted suicide, or a suicidal state-of-mind, however this is rarely the case. People suffering emotional distress may feel suicidal, but turning to self- harm is a coping mechanism and its function is predominantly to prevent suicide, rather than being a suicide attempt.  Self-harm is seen as an outlet

One of the most common misconceptions is that self-injury is the same thing as suicide. Suicide is the intentional act of killing one’s self. Suicide is a purposeful end to one’s life, while self-injury is most typically performed as an act of self-preservation, an act to sustain life. In basic terms, self-injury is a method of coping.

Self-injury generally provides temporary relief to intense emotional pain. Suicide is obviously a permanent solution to emotional and/or physical suffering. The damage done from self-injurious behaviors typically does not require medical intervention and is rarely lethal. Most of the people who intentionally hurt themselves never seek medical treatment and keep their injuries hidden. Those who attempt suicide often need medical intervention and the results of the suicide attempt are intended to be lethal.

Some individuals that self harm may go on to complete a suicide attempt. It is unlikely however that self harm is the cause of such suicidal feelings. It is far more likely to be due to the reasons triggering the self harm, such as abuse, bullying, financial worries etc. rather than an extension of the self harm itself

According to the National Self-Harm Network: A survey of 758 respondents carried out by NSHN showed that only 4% of these individuals stated that it was suicidal feelings that led to any of their individual incidents of self harm (Figures correct to August 2009). The feelings most often reported were self hatred, anger, frustration, worthlessness.

Alternatives For Self-Harm and Distraction Techniques

I’m surprised that I haven’t posted anything like this yet, but better late than never. I hope that you or a loved one might find this useful when you have the urge to self-harm. I’m going to go into the various reasons why people self-harm, and try to give you some alternatives and distraction techniques within them. As usual, this post may be triggering.

 

1.If you want to feel pain or need a physical outlet:

• • Get some ice cubes or anything frozen and hold it to where you self harm. This will give you a numb-burning sensation. Hold it there as long as you can, or until it melts
  • Snap a hair elastic or rubber band around your wrist.
  • Take a hot/cold shower.
  • Go to the gym, dance, exercise.
  • Scream as loud as you can.
  • Put a muscle relaxant cream on the places you want to cut. It induces a tingly sensation. You can find it in most health food stores and vitamin stores.
  • Wax your legs/pluck your eyebrows.
  • Hit a pillow or a punching bag.
  • Throw a cushion against a wall.
  • Squeeze a stress ball.
  • Play loud music. Pick your favorite songs, or, see my “Playlist for when you need a pick me up” or my “Playlist that lets out anger“. All songs are linked to their YouTube videos, so you don’t have to hunt them down yourself!
  • Pour some candle wax onto yourself, but make sure you hold it up high enough so that the wax cools a bit before touching your skin. If it starts to feel like you’re burning yourself, stop immediately.
  • Put Elmer’s glue on the area you want to cut. Let it dry and peel it off. (this is good if your method of SI is picking at skin.)

2. If you want to see marks on your skin:

• Take a red marker or soft felt tipped pen and draw lines where you would self harm
• Put on henna, an Indian temporary tattoo-art found at most Indian stores.
• Put on some temporary tattoos. Either buy a package of them and apply as instructed, or draw on yourself with a permanent marker and use hairspray to seal it. You can also find suggestions for how to make temporary tattoos here.
• On a sketch or photo of yourself, mark in red ink what you want to do.

 3. If you want to see blood:

• Draw on yourself with a red pen or body paint.
• Cover yourself with plasters where you want to cut
• Make “wounds” with makeup, like lipstick
• Take a small bottle of liquid red food coloring and warm it slightly by dropping it into a cup of hot water for a few minutes. Uncap the bottle and press its tip against the place you want to cut. Draw the bottle in a cutting motion while squeezing it slightly to let the food color trickle out.
• Draw on the areas you want to cut using ice that you’ve made by dropping six or seven drops of red food color into each of the ice-cube tray wells.
• Paint yourself with red temporary paint.
• ‘Cut’ your skin with nail polish (it feels cold, but it’s hard to get off)
• Use red food coloring on your skin
• ** Use this website HERE. Fataltotheflesh.com allows you to “cut” the screen by clicking and dragging your mouse, and blood will appear. Use with caution if blood is triggering to you, or if the sight of it makes you nauseous.

4. If you want to let out your emotions:

• Pick a song that has meaning for you, and write the lyrics on yourself.
• Write a letter to someone or something you are angry with (you don’t have to send it)
• Start a grateful journal where everyday you write down three: good things that happened/ things that you accomplished/ are grateful for/ made you smile. Make sure the journal is strictly for positive things. Then when you feel down you can go back and look at it. (My mom made me do this, and it actually helped! Surrounding yourself with positivity– especially positivity about yourself– does wonders for your mood and state of well-being).
• Call a friend and talk.
• Throw an apple/pair of socks against the wall.
• Have a pillow fight with the wall.
• Viciously stab an orange.
• Scream very loudly.
• Tear apart newspapers, photos, or magazines.
• Write your feelings on paper then rip it up.
• Break sticks.
• The Calm Jar (Fill a mason jar or similar with colored water and glitter. When feeling upset or angry you can shake it to disturb the glitter and focus on that until the glitter settles.)
• Cut up fruits. Try using your hands if a knife is too tempting.
• Allow yourself to cry; crying is a healthy release of emotion.
• Stomp around in heavy shoes.
• Buy a cheap plate and decorate it with markers, stickers, cut outs from magazines, words, images, what ever that expresses your pain and sadness and when you’re done, smash it. (Please be careful when doing this).
• Blow up a balloon and pop it.

Distractions: Just getting your mind off the urge/keeping yourself busy.

• Bake
• Clean out your room.
• Take a car ride (Please use your own discretion: if you not feel emotionally stable enough to operate a vehicle, you could not only be a danger to yourself, but to others.)
• Take a bath.
• Read
• Take a nap (everything is always better when you have time to sleep on it, TRUST ME.)
• Look at constellations
• Watch a feel good movie.
• Do puzzles/oragami/sew/play chess, etc. Anything that keeps your hands and mind occupied.
• Lay on your back in bed comfortably (eyes closed), and breathe in for 4, hold for 2, out for 4, hold for 2. Make sure to fill your belly up with air, not your chest. If your shoulders are going up, keep working on it. When you’re comfortable breathing, put your hand on your belly and rub up and down in time with your breathing. If your mind wanders to other things, move it back to focusing ONLY on the synchronized movement of your hand and breathing.
• Learn to swear in another language.
• Complete something you’ve been putting off.
• Play the A-Z game (Pick a category ie. Animals, and think of an animal for every letter of the alphabet.
• Build pillow/cushion forts.
• Create a story in your head, with your own characters and conflict. (This is great, because it gives you something to focus on long enough to stop the urge. Also, in your own world, YOU are the boss. You don’t have to deal with anyone’s rules, and anything can happen the way YOU want it to. Sometimes it’s okay to escape reality.)
• Funny pictures of animals
• LOLCats

These were just a few that I could think of for distractions and alternatives. As usual, if there is anything that you or a loved one does as an alternative to self-harm, please feel free to let me know in the comments!

 

Blog Update 4/22/14

Hi everyone! Again, sorry for not posting in a while. This time however, it has nothing to do with anything negative like the last update. (I’m actually doing really well right now, and that particular bad wave of depression seems to have passed for now). I’ve been really busy with all these end-of-the-year assignments I have been bombarded with, and I will try to post more often. Expect a few posts today and tomorrow!

Thanks again to everyone who has stuck with me since February. I really appreciate all the support and positive feedback!

 

-Brittany