𝘼𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 (𝙏𝙍𝙄𝙂𝙂𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂) 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙢

Major trigger warning ahead.

source: @fightthroughmentalhealth on instagram

Alternatives that will give you a sensation (other than pain) without harming yourself:

• Hold ice in your hands, against your arm, or in your mouth

• Run your hands under freezing cold water Snap a rubber band or hair band against your wrist

• Clap your hands until it stings

• Wax your legs

• Drink freezing cold water

• Splash your face with cold water

• Put PVA / Elmer's glue on your hands then peel it off

• Massage where you want to hurt yourself

• Take a hot shower / bath

• Jump up and down to get some sensation in your feet

• Write or paint on yourself

• Arm wrestle with a member of your family

• Take a cold bath

• Bite into a hot pepper or chew a piece of ginger root

• Put tiger balm on the places you want to cut.

Alternatives that give the illusion of seeing something similar to blood:

• Draw on yourself with a red pen or body paint, or go to a site such as this, where you 'cut' the screen (be aware that some users may find this triggering , so view with caution)

• Cover yourself with plasters where you want to cut

•Give yourself a henna or fake tattoo

•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 tempera paint.

• 'Cut' your skin with nail polish (it feels cold, but it's hard to get off)

• Use red food coloring on your skin

Alternatives that will hopefully make you think twice about harming yourself:

• Remember that you don't have to hurt yourself just because you're thinking about self harm

• Create a safe place to go

•Acknowledge that self harm is harmful behavior

• Repeat to yourself "I don't deserve to be hurt" even if you don't believe it

• Remember that you always have the choice not to cut: it's up to you what you do

• Think about how you may feel guilty after self harming

• Remind yourself that the urge to self harm is impulsive: you will only feel like cutting for short bursts of time

• Avoid temptation

• Get your friends to make you friendship bracelets: wear them around your wrists to remind you of them when you want to cut

• Be with other people

• Make your own list of things to do instead of self harm Make a list of your positive character traits

• Be nice to your family, who in return, will hopefully be nice to you

• Put a band-aid on the area where you'd like to self harm

• Tell yourself t he same thing you'd tell a friend if they were struggling.

• Write a loved ones name in the place you want to harm.

Alternatives to help you sort through your feelings:

• Phone a friend and talk to them

•Make a collage of how you feel

• Negotiate with yourself

• Identify what is hurting so bad that you need to express it in this way

• Write your feelings in a diary

• Free write (Write down whatever you're thinking at that moment, even if it doesn't make sense)

• Make lists of everything such as blessings in your life

• Make a notebook of song lyrics that you relate to

• Call a hotline

• Write a letter to someone telling them how you feel (but you don't have to send it if you decide not to)

• 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.

Alternatives when you're feeling angry or restless:

• Scribble on photos of people in magazines

• Viciously stab an orange

• Throw an apple / pair of socks against the wall

• Throw ice cubes at the bathtub wall, at a tree, etc

• Get out a fine tooth comb and vigorously brush the fur of a stuffed animal (but use gentle vigor)

• Slash an empty plastic soda bottle or a piece of heavy cardboard or an old shirt or sock wall

• Have a pillow fight with the wall

• Scream very loudly

• Tear apart newspapers, photos, or magazines

• Go to the gym, dance, exercise

• Listen to music and sing along loudly

• Draw a picture of what is making you angry

• Beat up a stuffed bear

• Pop bubble wrap

• Pop balloons

• Splatter paint

• Scribble on a piece of paper until the whole page is black

• Filling a piece of paper with drawing cross

• Make a soft cloth doll to represent the things you are angry at; cut and tear it instead of yourself

• Flatten aluminum cans for recycling, seeing how fast you can go

• On a sketch or photo of yourself, mark in red ink what you want to do. Cut and tear the picture

• Break sticks

• Cut up fruits

• Make yourself as comfortable as possible

• Stomp around in heavy shoes

• Play handball or tennis

• Yell at what you are breaking and tell it why you are angry, hurt, upset, etc .

• 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)

• 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.)

• Throw darts at a dartboard

• Go for a run

• Write your feelings on paper then rip it up

• Use stress relievers

• Build a fort of pillows and then destroy it

Hope this helps!