So for anyone who is depressed, suicidal, mentally ill or just having a hard time, I thought this list might benefit a lot of us. The title is 'Alternatives to Self-Harm' but I also find that, for anyone who might have anger management, have a tendency to feel emotions very strongly or maybe problems with your moods (like maybe you have bipolar disorder, for example) this can also serve as a distraction to help you focus your mind when you feel pretty shitty.

 

I, myself, have put a few of these to practice and it helps me tremendously. I hope it does the same for others.

 

It's really long so I'm putting this in spoiler tags.

 

 

 

Alternatives for 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
• 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
• Go for a run
• Write your feelings on paper then rip it up
• Build a fort of pillows and then destroy it
• Throw ice cubes at the bathtub wall, at a tree, etc
• Flatten aluminium 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. Tear the picture up instead of taking it out on yourself.
• Break sticks
• Make yourself as comfortable as possible
• Throw flour.

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 cold water
• Wax your legs
• Splash your face with cold water
• Massage where you want to hurt yourself
• Take a hot shower/bath
• Wear a rubber band around your wrist and snap it against your skin
• Draw on the skin with a red pen.
• Scratch instead of cut (but don’t do it too hard, just enough to take the urge away).

Alternatives that will distract you or take up time:
 

• Say “I’ll self harm in fifteen minutes if I still want to” and keep going for periods of fifteen minutes until the urge fades
• Count up to ten getting louder until you are screaming
• Sing as loud as you can
• Complete something you’ve been putting off
• Make a cup of tea
• Play solitaire
• Count up to 500 or 1000
• Google random things on the internet (avoid triggering sites)
• Make as many words out of your full name as possible
• Count ceiling tiles or lights
• Journal
• Search ridiculous things on the web
• Play with toys, like a slinky
• Go to the park and play on the swings
• Call up an old friend
• Go “people watching”
• Play a musical instrument
• Watch TV or a movie
• Paint your nails
• Alphabetize your CDs or books
• Cook
• Make origami to occupy your hands
• Doodle on sheets of paper
• Dress up or try on old clothes
• Play computer games or painting programs, like photoshop
• Write out lyrics to your favourite song from memory
• Read a book/magazine
• Do a crossword
• Draw a comic strip
• Make a chain link out of paper counting the hours or days you’ve been self harm free using pretty colored paper
• Knit, sew, or make a necklace
• Hunt for things on eBay or Amazon
• Go shopping
• Memorize a poem with meaning
• Learn to swear in another language
• Look up words in a dictionary
• Play hide-and-seek with your siblings
• Go outside and watch the clouds roll by
• Trace your hand on a piece of paper; on your thumb, write something you like to look at; on your index finger, write something you like to touch; on your middle finger, write your favourite scent; on your ring finger, write something you like the taste of; on your pinky finger, write something you like to listen to; on your palm, write something you like about yourself
• Have a nap
• Make a scrapbook
• Colour in a picture or colouring book.
• Make a phone list of people you can call for support. Allow yourself to use it.
• Pay attention to your breathing (breath slowly, in through your nose and out through your mouth)
• Pay attention to the rhythmic motions of your body (walking, stretching, etc.)
• Choose a random object, like a paper clip, and try to list 30 different uses for it
• Pick a subject and research it on the web - alternatively, pick something to research and then keep clicking on links, trying to get as far away from the original topic as you can.
• Take a small step towards a goal you have
• Try on all your clothes.

Alternatives that are completely bizarre. At the least, you’ll have a laugh:
 

• Crawl on all fours and bark like a dog or another animal
• Run around outside screaming
• Laugh for no reason whatsoever
• Make funny faces in a mirror
• Pluck your eyebrows
• Put faces on apples, oranges, or other sorts of food
• Go to the zoo and name all of the animals
• Colour on the walls
• Blow bubbles
• Pull weeds in the garden

Alternatives for when you’re feeling guilty, sad, or lonely:
 

• Congratulate yourself on each minute you go without self harming
• Draw or paint
• Look at the sky
• Instead of punishing yourself by self harming, punish yourself by not self harming
• Call a friend and ask for company
• Buy a cuddle toy
• Give someone a hug with a smile
• Put a face mask on
• Watch a favourite TV show or movie
• Eat something ridiculously sweet
• Remember a happy moment and relive it for a while in your head
• Treat yourself to some chocolate
• Try to imagine the future and plan things you want to do
• Look at things that are special to you
• Compliment someone else
• Make sculptures
• Watch fish
• Play with a pet
• Have or give a massage
• Imagine yourself living in a perfect home and describe it in your mind
• If you’re religious, read the bible or pray
• Light a candle and watch the flame (be careful with this one. If it becomes too triggering, blow out the candle and watch the smoke.)
• Allow yourself to cry
• Carry tokens to remind you of peaceful comforting things/people
• Take a hot bath with bath oil or bubbles
• Curl up under a comforter with hot cocoa and a good book
• Make affirmation tapes inside you that are good, kind, gentle (Sometimes you can do this by writing down the negative thoughts and then physically re-writing them into positive messages)
• Make a tray of special treats and tuck yourself into bed with it and watch TV or read

Alternatives for when you’re feeling panicky or scared:
 

• “See, hear and feel”-5 things, then 4, then 3 and countdown to one which will make you focus on your surroundings and will calm you down
• Listen to soothing music; have a CD with motivational songs that you can listen to
• Meditate or do yoga
• Name all of your soft toys
• Hug a pillow or soft toy
• Hyper focus on something
• Do a “reality check list” – write down all the things you can list about where you are now (e.g. It is the 2nd January 2013, I’m a room and everything is going to be alright)
• Drink herbal tea
• Crunch ice
• Go for a walk if it’s safe to do so
• Feel your pulse to prove you’re alive
• Go outside and attempt to catch butterflies or lizards
• Take off your shoes and socks. Walk around to feel more grounded.
• Touch something familiar/safe.
• Leave the room and go somewhere more comfortable
• Lay on your back in bed comfortably (eyes closed), and breathe in for 4, hold for 2, out for 4, hold for 2. Make sure to fill your belly up with air, not your chest. If your shoulders are going up, keep working on it. When you’re comfortable breathing, put your hand on your belly and rub up and down in time with your breathing. If your mind wanders to other things, move it back to focusing ONLY on the synchronized movement of your hand and breathing.

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

• Think about how you don’t want scars or the questions and looks of disappointment
• 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 behaviour: say “I want to hurt myself” rather than “I want to cut”
• 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 or triggers
• 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
• Put a band-aid on the area where you’d like to self harm
• Recognize and acknowledge the choices you have NOW
• Pay attention to the changes needed to make you feel safe
• Kiss the places you want to SH or kiss the places you have healing wounds. It can be a reminder that you care about myself and that you don’t want this
• The Butterfly project- draw a butterfly on the place(s) that you would self harm and if the butterfly fades without self-harming, it means it has lived and flown away, giving a sense of achievement. Whereas if you do self-harm with the butterfly there; you will have to wash it off. If that does happen, you can start again by drawing a new one on. You can name the butterfly after someone you love.
• Write the name of a loved one [a friend, family member, or anyone else who cares about you] and write their name where you want to self harm. When you go to self harm remember how much they care and wouldn’t want you to harm yourself.
• Think about what you would say to a friend who was struggling with the same things you are and try to be a good friend to yourself.

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

• Draw on yourself with a red pen or body paint
• Give yourself a henna or fake tattoo
• Make “wounds” with makeup, like lipstick
• Take a small bottle of liquid red food colouring 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 colour 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 colour 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)

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
• Journal
• 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
• 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.
• Read this list again.

 

But more importantly, hold on and stay strong.

 

 

 

http://n0thingleftinside.tumblr.com/alternatives-to-self-harm

I think I may try the sillier suggestions... though I'm not going through any depression problems right now x3

Now if only people followed your list than there wouldn't be that many dead people...from suicide I mean.

I pull on my pierced ear when I'm anxious. Though this helps when I got to gauge it, cause I stretch the hole (giggity) as I do so. So it's beneficial, I suppose.

I might need this...