Focus on your breathing.ĭeep breathing not only has multiple physical benefits (like engaging your parasympathetic nervous system to help you relax physically), but it can also calm you down mentally. You might also find it helpful to channel your emotions into something creative, like art or music. Aragam recommends things like destroying pieces of paper, punching a soft object (like a pillow or clay), or loudly banging pots and pans. “Our goal in treatment is to…find healthier ways to release that tension and, in turn, feel better without the harmful physical impact.”Īs safer alternatives to releasing this tension, Dr. “Oftentimes the act of self-harm ends up serving as an immediate way of releasing that tension in the body,” says Dr. Taking your emotions out on other objects can also be a great way to escape from the sharp and heavy emotions you may feel. Release your emotions with another action. But keep in mind that you don’t have to exercise in the traditional sense-stretching, dancing around your room, or whatever else works for you are all solid options.
#LEAST PAINFUL WAY TO KILL YOURSELF HOW TO#
If you need a place to start, here’s how to exercise at home and actually like it. Usually, moving your body might include things like going for a walk, but depending on your comfort level exercising outside during the pandemic, even in a safe, socially distanced way, you might opt for indoor exercise instead. “It helps them feel better about themselves and helps decrease the feelings of shame that are often associated with self-harm.” “Helping my patients find their own safe way to release or cope with their intense emotions in order to prevent self-harm behaviors is a natural part of the healing process,” Dr. Not to mention, it can provide distraction and encourage healthier habits. Intense emotions can lead to the feeling of tension building up in your body, so loosening up and moving your body can help.
The warmth could even be more emotional than physical, like cuddling your pet if that brings you comfort. You might want to take a hot shower, cuddle in a blanket, eat a bowl of comforting soup, or sip a cup of warm tea. There are plenty of ways to feel warm or cozy. “For certain people, warming up or feeling contained can physically calm their body down release naturally relaxing chemicals, which in turn helps them feel calmer and more in control as well.” “When people feel intensely anxious or overwhelmed, their bodies can show signs of it, whether it is higher heart rate or blood pressure, or feelings of tightness in their chest,” Gowri Aragam, M.D., clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, tells SELF. The feeling of warmth can help you stay calm and grounded. Whether the goal is to achieve calm, activate your senses, or produce a feeling of pain without causing yourself actual damage, other cooling activities like taking a cold shower, drinking cold water, and consuming a cool food (like something with mint) might be helpful alternatives. (As a heads up, I’m an intern at Brainstorm too.)įor some, the stinging and pain of the freezing cold also satisfy the urge for the pain they seek through self-harm, but in a much safer way. Vasan is also the founder and executive director of Brainstorm, the Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation, where she and her team provide consultation to tech companies to help create resources related to self-harm. “We see that when people engage in self-harm they generally describe feeling one of two urges: Either they have so much emotion that it is overwhelming and they self-harm to get a release, or they feel nothing, emotional numbness, and in the desire to feel something, they will self-harm,” Nina Vasan, M.D., M.B.A., clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the Stanford School of Medicine, tells SELF.
People self-harm for a few different reasons, and understanding your motivation and triggers can help you choose the coping strategies from this list that will be most helpful for you. First, understand why you engage in self-harm. As with any mental health advice, not every tip will be helpful for you personally, so reflect and experiment to find out what works best for you. Here, we asked experts for a few strategies to keep in mind for the next time you need them. While there’s no one “best” way to treat self-harm therapy-wise, CBT and DBT are mainstays. These mechanisms are often based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helps people reframe their thoughts and actions, and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a form of CBT that is focused on distress tolerance and emotional regulation.
#LEAST PAINFUL WAY TO KILL YOURSELF PROFESSIONAL#
While self-harm is best addressed with the help of a professional long-term, there are some coping mechanisms and alternatives to self-harm that experts recommend to help you deal with intense urges in the moment.
0 kommentar(er)
