Dealing with Obscure Forms of Self Harm (Triggers inside)

Awesome post, Carina! It's important to shed light to these types of self-injury.

Like she said, if you're suffering from any of these, or other types of SI,you are not alone!

I used to pick the skin around my thumbs really badly. They'd bleed and were almost always in one state or another of freshly picked or still healing. But I never did that with the intention of hurting myself, it was a mindless habit I would do without thinking, and not really pay attention to until it stung. I grew out of it. Later on I did begin cutting, transitioned to burning, then starting cutting again. Those I did with the intention to harm, but never skin picked with the intention to harm. So was picking the skin around my thumbs a coincidental bad habit? Or was it a sign that I was predisposed for self harm? I do have several OCD symptoms, but never thought ofmy skin picking as a compulsion.Also, when I was little I would bite myself as hard as I could stand it. But that was before depression. Can you help me make sense of this?

Shortly after my dad died almost four years ago I started burning my finger tips, never bad enough to reach second degree burns but bad enough to leave first degree burns, it was an accidental discovery that I enjoyed the pain. I had touched something I didn't realize was hot and after that I started recreating the pain, it made me feel alive and gave me a second where I didn't have to deal with people pittying me or the emotional pain of losing my dad(I was in the passenger seat in the car accident that killed him). Anyway one of my friends saw me burning my finger tips one day and took my lighter and wouldn't give it back until I promised them I wouldn't burn myself. I may not be able to take the means away from you but I'm willing to talk you down if you are burning.

This is great!

I do ice burning ( salt and ice if you didn't know) sometimes. I stumbled on it one time and got hooked. I'm still trying to stop it though

(probably triggering, just warning) Oh. Just realized I've done those since little. I would pick at scabs until they bleed, but only on my ears - to the point of my dad screaming and me hiding. I would self-hit when upset, a few years later. And burning came afterwards. I'm in recovery for two years almost, and still it's hard to stop. I still need assurance that my burning is serious because I can't. Cutting is everywhere. My psychologist (all three) have spent months trying to stop saying the word "cut" when saying "did you cut?" "i don't cut" "oh right, you burn, isn't it?". It made me feel like I had to cut to be taken seriously, so I started to scratch again, but more serious this time.

It was a dark moment of my life I both regret and accept. Sometimes still want to go to that hell again. Okay, not long ago had a relapse, but picked myself up after falling down and that's what matters.

I just never took it seriously. Not even my binging. Thank you for posting something like this!! It means a lot to me and i'm sure it means a lot to others.

I am a chronic nail biter, I also bite the skin around my nails. I feel really bad about it. I am trying to find a different way of coping with stress besides biting my nails.

(TW dermatillomania)

I have dermatillomania, but it isn't used as self-harm. I think there are others like me in this respect, though many others do use it specifically for self-harm.

I pick my skin, especially my scalp, face, and shoulders. Part of it is because I have good skin and I like it to stay smooth, so I pick off any bumps or rough spots, which usually gives me more rough spots or scabs. :C

I also just enjoy doing it; kind of like a person addicted to drugs is gratified from taking them, as some researchers postulate for skin picking and the like.

Clinically is there a difference in how one treats self sabotage? Sometimes when I start finding that a job environment is getting overwhelming, my sense of judgementstarts to grow apathetic and in both conscious and unconscious ways I start sabotaging the gig and it spirals out of control until it's such an unhealthy environment they have to let me go. The initial overwhelming is usually just fear based, I don't understand enough of what I need to do to play well, but the distructo-spiral is a combination of confusion, being overwhelmed, apathy and panic. Comorbiditiesare anxiety, depression, ADHD, apnea, and low testosterone, all of which I am under medical care for. This is a repeated pattern professionally. It can't continue.

Very often self-harm behaviors are a result of a mental or neurological condition. They are parr of self-soothing behaviors called "stims" or "stimming". They are reactive behaviors that are usually in response to an external mental or emotional stressor. People on the Autism spectrum tend to stim in various ways, such as rocking, hair pulling, skin picking and so on. People with BPD (borderline personality disorder) have a high tendency for self-harming and self-sabatoging behaviors. Also those with a Bipolar spectrum disorder can self-harm if rhey are experiencing manic or hypomanic behavior. If you have a tendency toward these sorts of behaviors, seeking further into a potential mental or neurological diagnosis can be very helpful and relieving to know that you are not alone and that there are treatments, both pharmaceuticals and non-medicinal, as well as counseling that can be very beneficial. Talk to your doctor about referring you to a psychologist if your self-harming or stimming behavior is affecting your daily life. Take care. - D.