@chibam wrote:
@Paperdaisy wrote:
Please note: The purpose of this discussion is to talk about ways of coping with distress. I encourage you to review the community guidelines and please be mindful when talking about self-harm. Thank you 💝
I hope this is not too far off-topic. Apologies if it is. 😬
But has anyone ever had a once-off incident where they suddenly just lose control and just start self-harming, with no previous or future history of self-harm?
When we talk about self harm, I get the impression that it's generally meant as a sort of habitual behavior, like smoking. You don't tend to think of self harmers as people who suddenly do it once and then never again.
I'm not a habitual self harmer - not even in the occasional sense of "I might do it once every two or three years". But I had this incident once where I started doing it, with no previous history, and I've never done it again.
Also, I get the impression that, when most people talk about self harm, there's the implication of some level of deliberateness in the deed. Like they are in control of their bodies while they do it. But that wasn't my experiance at all. In my case, it was like my body was just running away without me, and I couldn't stop it, so I just had to sit there and take it.
But I guess the weird thing about it was that I wasn't particularly interested in stopping it, either. So it's not like I was fighting myself, or anything. I think I'd just given up at that point.
Is that typical for self harm incidents?
@chibam I'm be no means an expert but I think once off is not uncommon and there are all different types of behaviours around this. Thank you for sharing your experience, it's really valuable to get different experiences as it helps break down the stigma but it's also important to acknowledge that it's different for everyone. It's interesting you get the impression someone is in control of what they are doing "Like they are in control of their bodies while they do it." I'm wondering if you think the stigma around this is what has lead to that belief? As you have mentioned, it can also be a very unintentional experience and there are many different reasons it occurs. You mentioned you had "given up" in your experience of it and I'm sorry to hear that happened to you, I imagine that was a very difficult place to be in.
Thank you for sharing your experience 💝
I'm wondering how you manage distress tolerance all those other times that you didn't have this one off experience?
