Cut is a form of self-harm that can get a addiction. With the correct support, many people who cut learn how to terminate.

Self-harm, including cut, is not uncommon. Anyone of whatever age may be affected past self-damage, just it is more than mutual amidst people in their teens.

The sense of relief from cutting can be so reinforcing that it may be difficult to stop doing it, compelling people to cut again the next time they feel overwhelmed.

If cut becomes a addiction, people may discover it hard to resist the urge, simply there are many means to acquire to finish. Not every strategy works for everyone, but most people volition find a way that works for them.

This article explores strategies to stop cutting. Information technology also looks at ways to manage the causes of self-damage and what support is available.

Here are nine ways to help anyone who self-harms to resist the urge to cut:

1. Distract yourself

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A person can employ distraction tactics, such as going for a walk or listening to music, to aid resist the urge to cut.

Enquiry suggests that immature people who self-harm often do so impulsively. For this reason, cutting prevention methods focus on finding alternative ways to manage distress.

Distraction tactics may help resist the urge to cutting. A person tin try to distract themselves by:

  • calling a friend
  • counting to 1,000
  • watching a film or favorite Television receiver serial
  • making a cup of tea or a snack
  • doing some housework
  • going for a walk

Distracting themselves may assistance a person delay cutting until the urge has passed.

2. Do self-care

Cutting may be a response to deep emotional pain and sadness. A way to manage these emotions without cutting is through cocky-intendance.

Self-care is any activity that promotes well-existence by making a person feel soothed or comforted.

Self-care activities to try include:

  • having a long bathroom or shower
  • listening to relaxing music
  • curling up in a soft coating
  • cooking a healthful meal from scratch
  • drawing, painting, or coloring
  • using essential oils or a scented candle
  • self-massage with coconut or almond oil
  • reading in bed

three. Relieve stress

Some people cut themselves in response to feeling stress. One study institute that 45 percentage of adolescents who cocky-harm do so to relieve tension or stress.

To manage the body'due south response to stress without cut, the post-obit activities may help:

  • practicing yoga at home
  • doing deep breathing exercises
  • practicing mindfulness

There are many costless yoga videos online, including some for beginners.

Deep breathing exercises can be as simple as taking long, deep breaths in and feeling the abdomen expand each time earlier exhaling.

A simple mode to practise mindfulness is to get for a slow walk and detect everything yous see, smell, hear, and touch.

4. Release anger

Some people cut to relieve unprocessed anger. For people who experience this, releasing anger in a different fashion may aid.

If a person feels angry and gets the urge to cut, culling ways to release anger include:

  • dancing to ambitious music
  • popping balloons or bubble wrap
  • going for a run
  • going to the gym for a conditioning
  • hitting a cushion
  • ripping up newspaper
  • scribbling on newspaper

5. Express feelings

Sometimes the urge to cut can arise when a person needs emotional release. They may experience numb or overwhelmed by many different emotions that they have trouble expressing.

Instead of cutting, a person seeking emotional release could try:

  • writing about how they experience in a periodical
  • speaking to a trusted friend, family unit member, or therapist
  • watching a sad film and allowing themselves to cry
  • listening to music that they can identify with

6. Connect with others

Some people who cut do so because they experience isolated, misunderstood, or socially rejected.

Instead of cut, a person could endeavor:

  • messaging or calling a friend or family unit member
  • playing with a pet or offer to pet-sit for a neighbor
  • making social plans to look forward to throughout the calendar week
  • joining local community meet-up groups
  • finding support groups for people who self-harm

7. Replace the sensation

When trying to avoid cut, a person may fixate on how it would feel to cutting themselves. This tin make information technology hard to resist the urge to cut.

A way effectually this is to find sensations that are similar to cut, just less harmful. Some means to replace the sensation of cutting include:

  • rubbing an ice cube across the skin
  • taking a cold shower
  • cartoon on the skin with a red felt-tipped pen
  • gently snapping a safety band against the skin
  • clapping the hands difficult
  • stomping the feet loudly

Research suggests that developing important relationships is a key factor in recovering from self-impairment.

To help someone stop cutting, try to provide a safe, nonjudgmental space for them to hash out their feelings.

They may not feel comfortable sharing that they self-harm, so do not push them to disclose this. But practice offer them a chance to connect.

Asking open-ended questions tin can give them the opportunity to discuss their feelings.

Practice non worry most having the right answers — just listening to how a person feels and taking their concerns seriously can help.

If someone does share that they cocky-harm, the Samaritans charity, based in the Uk, suggests some useful questions to ask, such equally:

  • "Take you talked to anyone else virtually this?"
  • "Would you similar to go some help?"
  • "Would you similar me to come with you?"

If the person is reluctant to get help, a person could say:

  • "Do you have someone you trust [who] yous tin can go to?"
  • "If it helps, you can talk to me any time."

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A person tin can make a note of the state of affairs that leads to cutting to assistance identify triggers.

Agreement what triggers the desire to cocky-harm tin can assist a person avert those situations or manage them when they occur.

A trigger is a situation, event, or way of thinking that brings on the urge to cut. Cutting triggers may include:

  • piece of work or study stress
  • arguments with family members
  • feeling rejected by a partner

Every person who cuts has a dissimilar set of triggers.

To help identify triggers, make a note of the situation that leads to cutting in a periodical. Review this regularly and identify recurring triggers.

A person can then work to reduce those triggers and experience more prepared to manage the urge to cut using some of the strategies above.

Once a person has identified their triggers, they can plan how to resist the urge when it happens. Writing this plan downwardly can help.

Keep this plan handy for when the urge to cut arises. Without a written plan, it is easy to experience overwhelmed or forget tactics that may assist.

Cutting and other forms of self-harm are linked with feet, depression, and other mental health atmospheric condition.

If a person who cuts has an underlying mental wellness condition, receiving treatment volition assistance prevent cocky-damage in the long term.

Doctors and healthcare professionals can often treat anxiety and low with a combination of medication and talk therapy.

Certain lifestyle changes and stress-reducing practices may likewise aid, including:

  • exercising regularly
  • eating a healthful, balanced diet
  • getting plenty of sleep
  • reducing alcohol consumption
  • not smoking
  • practicing yoga, mindfulness, and meditation
  • journaling

If a person self-harms or feels compelled to start cocky-harming, they should speak to a doctor.

A contempo study found that between six.4 percentage and xiv.8 percent of high schoolhouse-aged boys in the United States have purposefully hurt themselves. The figure was higher for girls of the aforementioned age, with between 17.7 percent and 30.8 percent reporting cocky-damage.

Despite causing injury, cutting offers some people temporary relief from emotional hurting or numbness. Other people who cut say that they do so because they feel the need to punish themselves.

The medico can help a person discover other ways to manage their emotional wellness. Talk therapy may assistance with learning how to manage emotions in a safe, sustainable way.

If a person needs firsthand assist to stop cutting, they tin call a cocky-injury hotline at 1-800-DONT Cut (1-800-366-8388). In the outcome of an emergency, phone call emergency services.

Cutting is a type of self-damage that some people use to manage negative feelings. The temporary sense of relief it may provide tin can make information technology difficult to give up the behavior.

With the right back up and coping mechanisms, many people who cut are able to cease.

The methods explored in this commodity may help a person avoid cut. Seeking support from a doctor is also important.

Every person who cuts will find a unlike combination of coping strategies effective. Identifying cutting triggers is essential and can help a person develop a self-management plan and eventually stop cutting.