Posted by wishingstar on November 1, 2006, at 15:16:51
In reply to Re: day 2... i went (v. long), posted by ElaineM on October 31, 2006, at 22:50:51
Hey Elaine and any others who are interested.. this is the SI idea Randy gave me yesterday. I've heard of the snapping a rubber band, coloring on yourself with red marker, holding ice.. none of it really seemed realistic or helpful to me. But I liked this one.
Randys idea was to pick one thing that you like to use to hurt yourself.. one razor, etc... and commit to injuring yourself with only THAT one thing. You're allowed to cut with only that. Then take it, put it in a cup of water, and leave it in the freezer so it turns to ice. Then the next time youre feeling strong urges, remember the deal. If you want to cut, you have to go get that cup out of the freezer and either wait for it to melt, melt it yourself, etc. If you do that and still want to cut, then okay. You can give yourself permission. I know it sounds weird say it's okay, but the idea behind it is that by the time you get to the razor itself, the immediate urge will likely have passed.
If you live with family (or anyone else) that would make this hard to do, there is one other thing similar. I have a roommate. He suggested taking the one thing and hiding it somewhere outside your house - in the woods under a rock, etc. Somewhere where youll be able to find it again, but that youd have to walk (at least a few minutes away) or drive to get to. A nearby park is what he suggested. Then it works the same - if you want to cut, you have to go to that place, find the razor, and probably clean it off before you allow yourself to do it. He told me that while I'm driving back to the place to find the razor, I should think about what I'm doing and whether it's what I truly want to do. He said to ask myself whether it really makes sense to hurt myself because of someone elses pain (I was triggered by someone elses cuts yesterday). Is that really how you want to treat the little girl inside you? Is it fair? Does it make sense? Again, the option is still there to do it anyway.
It sounds so simple but I think it's great. The hardest part is promising yourself that youll only use that one thing. Maybe getting rid of all other options (all other razor blades, etc) would help. I know I have a hard time when anyone suggests I throw all mine out.. it's life a safety net. But you'd still have one available. It'd just take a little more work.
I hope this helps someone.
poster:wishingstar
thread:699190
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20061026/msgs/699621.html