Key points
- It can help to understand your patterns of self-harm or thoughts of suicide. For example, what situations, people, thoughts or feelings trigger your urge to self-harm?
- Keeping a diary to track urges to self harm make it easier to identify patterns.
- If you can become aware of what these urges feel like, it’s easier to distract yourself or to choose to wait 5 minutes to see if the urge reduces.
- What works as a distraction might depend on what triggers the urge to self harm. There are some examples below.
- You don’t need to deal with these thoughts on your own – reach out to the crisis contacts at the start of this booklet. You may want to practice doing this when you’re feeling ok, so that’s it’s easier when you really need to.
| What you’re feeling: | What distractions might help: |
| Sadness & fear | Wrap yourself in a blanket Hang out with an animal Walk in nature Let yourself cry or sleep Tell someone Massage your hands Relaxation techniques |
| A need to control | Write lists Tidy up and/or declutter Clench then relax all your muscles Weed a garden |
| Numb & disconnected | Flick elastic bands on your wrists Hold ice cubes Smell something with a strong odour Have a cold shower |
| Shame | Stop contact with anyone who treats you unkindly Accept making mistakes is human Remind yourself that there are reasons for your behaviour – you are not bad |
| Self hatred & wanting to punish yourself | Punch a pillow Exercise Write a letter from the part of you that feels self-hatred then write back with as much compassion and acceptance as you would to a friend Express yourself creatively |
These resources might also help:
- What is self-harm? – Mind
- What are suicidal feelings? – Mind
- chatsafe: a young person’s guide for communicating safely online about self-harm and suicide – Orygen, Revolution in Mind
Remember that you can use the Crisis contacts given via the ‘Do you need immediate help?’ button if you need to.