Do the thoughts of self harming ever go away, even if you've officially stopped?

This is very individual! It likely depends on why you harm - stress? flashbacks? depression? trapped in a specific situation? The more specific your triggers the more likely you can completely free yourself from the impulse and feeling of wanting to self harm. More general reasons means its more likely that the thoughts will resurface from time to time. Personally, I've found the thoughts continue to poke up even far into my recovery, BUT they are much less intense. Often I have a vivid thought, and no desire to actually do it. Or, I have a passing thought I can almost laugh at. When I do have a true urge to hurt myself, I also tend to have the thought "but I won't" or "but not yet" and am able to use my healthy coping methods instead. So, the thoughts of self-harm may indeed continue - but they become less frequent, less intense, and easier to manage the further you travel in recovery.

I've been free of self harm for 10 months, but I think about it every day. For me, it became such a part of my daily routine that it's hard to stop thinking about. It's been almost encouraging to be able to push aside the thoughts because I know I'm stronger than tha.

No. If you ever, for some reason, self harm, it sticks with you. I self harmed almost 4 years ago, and threw away my blades about 2 years later. I relapsed earlier this year, just because of something someone said over the phone. To this day I find myself idly scratching my wrists and flinching at noticeable scars on others. You can never take it back. That doesn't mean, however, that you can't get better. Every day that you don't self harm is another victory.

For me personally, the thought and temptation to self harm cross my mind every once in awhile. The thoughts do subside, but there may always be a lingering thought whenever you feel depressed.

Honestly they might never go away but your tolerance to the urge will strengthen and the urge wont be so strong and you will be able to stay clean.

It's like having overcome any drug addiction. You always have triggers and thoughts of just relapsing. You miss the high of it and cope with it each day

I don't think they will ever go away. I see it as my way of coping with stress and emotional problems, Not the best way by any means but my way. Although I hope I never feel the need to do it again, I'll probably never stop thinking about it when Im in that frame of mind. I think when you stop thinking about it is when you're more likely to slip back into that habit.

I don't think they ever truly go away. Like any bad habit. in times of weakness, you'll feel the want or need to resort back to this unhealthy routine but also like any bad habit, with learning other ways to cope and teaching yourself healthier means day-to-day, when the urge comes again, hopefully you will have a strong enough state of mind to fight back.

From experience, no. They tend to linger around and show up when you've hit another low. But once you've stopped, you've got better resistance to their calls.

They can go away but it takes a while. and you will need lots of help during the process. It's best to talk to a parent about it.