As somebody who spent years struggling with self-harm, I often found myself completely discouraged with the cycle I was trapped in.
Many of the options on the lists I was given of alternatives to engaging in self-harm did not work for me. Most of the alternatives were distraction options, for example, like listening to music or watching a movie.
These never calmed the obsessive need to release what I was feeling inside. For me, self-harm not only gave me a physical release of the pain I felt inside, it also gave me a distorted belief that I was in control of how and when I would feel pain.
Read more on themighty.com