Help? How to stop cutting?!

First of all, cutting is an addiction. Just like drugs or alcohol. You get addicted to it because your body releases epinephrine when in physical pain. This rush of hormones actually makes you feel better for a few minutes. Then, as soon as it wears off, you feel even worse then you did before because you gave into the desire. But that's why it's so hard to quit. However, it is possible. It helps if you have an emotionally stable friend who can help you out. Someone who doesn't judge you for cutting. Make a pact with them that you will call them before you cut. Instead of cutting, talk to this friend about what's going on and what's making you want to cut. It can help, and it can be distracting. At the very least it will postpone you hurting yourself. You can also get a red marker and draw lines on your skin. This helps me because it's almost like I can trick myself into thinking that I did cut. It's not perfect, but it helps. Finally, try doing puzzles or making card castles. These things are tricky and require concentration. They can help distract you until your feeling better.
I know how hard it can be to recover from emotional abuse. Don't be hard on yourself when you relapse. It happens. Keep trying and I know you can overcome it! And you're not an idiot... you're in pain.

personal experinace

Sounds like your looking for the magical qualities of weed. Do it in moderation. Don't let the drug control. Control the drug. Weed is not an inherently evil thing it can do amazing things to keep you chilled out when times get tough. I know that this is not the most popular thing to say to someone who is having troubles, but please if you have never smoked weed then don't be an ignorant fool, and immediately disregard this comment, because I promise you from the bottom of my heart this is something that will help a person in this condition.

I am sorry for whats happened to you and I am glad you're getting help! Brave girl :) :)

But honestly, I have said this before and I will say it again - NO ONE likes a cutter. How are you going to feel when your older and wiser and you have these cut scars on you? How are u going to explain them to the love of your life one day, hide them on your wedding day when you're in a beautiful dress when you're all grown up and happy. How will u explain the scars to your children? People dont look at the cutting scars and think "poor you", they think "what an idiot". Why would you want to scar yourself to always have a reminder of the hard times? To look at them when your older and happy and be reminded of when things weren't so great? You dont need to do that miss x

Best advice I could give is to find someone who you can speak to when you feel the urge to cut and talk through the emotion thats making you want to cut. Also get rid of anything that you could use to cut. Its foolish to keep the razor blades, knives, ect. accessable if you really want to stop.

Get help!
We are not doctors here, you can't trust the internet.

Firstly, I am glad to hear you have gotten help. I hope you know that it's not your fault your mum passed away, and I am terribly sorry to hear that has happened to you.

There are many methods to help stop self harming, but not all of them work for every person. It depends on the person. Just because one method doesn't work doesn't mean that you should stop trying.

Some methods involving pain are:
- Put an elastic band on your wrist and flick it whenever you get the urge. It will hurt but not cause as much damage.
- Hold an ice cube against whatever part of your body you self harm. You can colour it with dyes/blackcurrant squash (by mixing it in before you freeze the water) to give the illusion of blood.
- You can take part in some form of vigorous exercise, it'll hurt but it'll do your body good.
- Draw lines on your body with a red pen

The best thing, I find, when trying to beat the urge is to distract yourself. Forget about the world and whatever is triggering you to harm yourself.
You can do this by:
- Listening to music (you can dance to it if you want =])
- Drink some water
- Going outside
- Watching telly
- Going on the computer
- Daydreaming about something that brings you happiness
- Talking to someone about how you feel down
- Focus on something else, and do not think about self harm
- Drawing
- Painting
- Write down your emotions
- Write songs/poems
- Hide the razor in a place hard to get to so you'll be distracted looking for them and maybe you might have got over the urge to cut
- Count to 100 in your head, if the urge is still there then repeat
- Scream as loud as you can
- Imagine you were your friend. What would you do to stop your friend from self harming? Now take that advice.

A more gradual process to stop is to make the wounds you inflict smaller and make less of them. However, this process will take a lot longer, and I would only use it as a last resort.

It is important to find out what triggers you to self harm in order to stop.

It is important to know that you may still relapse whilst trying to stop, so please do not get frustrated with yourself. It is normal, and it takes a lot of time, effort and energy to stop self harming even for the smallest amount of time.

I found a website which looks quite useful:
http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Cutting-Your…

I wish you all the best, good luck, I hope you manage to stop for good <3 x