New here.

[anyone]

hello everyone,

I stumbled over this forum and on reading your posts i thought i might find some help here.
the thing is I'm not cutting but i've been scratching myself all over the body for 3-4 years already. it's not that bad as cutting i know, but i just can't seem to stop.
i was able to relate well to some of the posts here, that it's like an addiction, i just do it without thinking although i don't want to.
another thing is i'm quite shy and don't have many friends so it took me tons of courage to tell my closest friend about it some months ago. but since that day she hasn't mentioned it again i guess she doesn't care about it or has forgotten about it. she didn't even take me serious when i told her.

i guess many of you know a lot about self-harm so i just want to know what all of you think. i appreciate every answer.
thank you in advance.

[Fiction]

You can't measure someone's emotional pain from the seriousness of there self harm. It doesn't work like that. Your scratching is still a problem and could easily turn into cutting.
When you want to scratch yourself you could try using distractions. This can be anything- writing, reading, drawing- anything you enjoy doing.
Every act of self harm begins with a trigger. If there is any way for you to solve what triggers you to self harm, you will find not self harming much easier.
Good luck :)

[anyone]

Thank you for the quick answer.
Now that you mentioned that trigger, I'll have to think more about it.
As for distractions, it's really difficult since I always scratch when I'm tired and I'm about to go to bed or when I'm brushing my teeth/ washing my face in front of the mirror.
I already tried preventions as covering the mirror or cutting my nails but they were useless. Then I tried saying loud 'no', it didn't work at all. Does anyone have a trick in that case?
I mean I can't possibly start drawing, reading or sitting in front of the computer when I'm tired and want to sleep.

[georgiamay]

you shouldn't compare your self harm to other people's. Each form of self harm is as serious as each other, because self harm is all about emotional pain.

The first thing that I should say is not to turn to cutting, because although it's not any more "serious" that scratching, it's more dangerous.

A distraction... Maybe you could do the elastic band trick? wear an elastic band around your wrist and snap it once whenever you want to self harm. It should hurt a bit, so you don't want to scratch anymore in the end. I know it's still technically self harm, but if it sorts out your addiction to scratching, it's a lot better, and easier to stop doing, so that's not really a problem.

To work out a trigger, I'd suggest keeping a record, like a diary, of when you self harm, and what happened that day, and what happened to you if it was something specific that made you want to hurt yourself.

Good luck :hug3:

[anyone]

I can at least ensure you that I won't turn to cutting since I'm so afraid of sharp objects.
That elastic band trick sounds good, thank you, I'll try it.
And a diary sounds like a good idea as well, I just doubt I'll be able to do it properly every time.
Anyway, this is great, you guys are so much help and I feel much better now that I know how to help myself. Thanks a lot! I'll do my best =)

[Fiction]

I was scared of blood when I first started scratching. To be quite honest I still am. It's weird, but just because you are scared of sharp objects doesn't mean it can't turn into more, but of course there are ways you can prevent that as has been mentioned above :)
Good luck.