Building a Support System

One of the best ways to quit self injury is to build a healthy support system for you to use in hard times. A support system is a group of people, friends and/or family, who are there for you when you need them. 

You could start by telling someone close to you about your addiction. We often think that our friends and/or family members will think us to be freaks, and will be ashamed of us and our addictions. Many times, this is simply our addiction getting the best of us. Overcoming this initial paranoia is a huge step in the right direction, and will pay off in a big way in the end. Having someone physically present to hug and comfort you when you are having an urge can not be replaced by any other tip or idea presented on this website. It is, hands down, the best way to gain support when attempting to direct yourself on a new path. 

If you are someone, who really does lack a healthy family life or friendship circle, and truly have no one you feel you can trust, there are other ways to gain a healthy support circle. One way is to join an online forum. Online forums are a great way to remain as anonymous as you want, and still form healthy and productive friendships with real people. You could join a forum specially aimed at dealing with self-injury and/or other mental health related subjects, or you could simply join a general chat forum that is not revolved around self-injury, depression, etc. There are pros and cons to each choice. 

With a self-injury related forum you can speak with people who truly understand your current position and are able to offer peer to peer counsel and/or advice on problems you may be facing on your journey to recovery. However, these forums are often very triggering, and could do more damage than improvement depending on the way the forum is run. Equilibrium offers a forum that is specifically designed to attempt to offer a safe, productive, friendly environment in which to discuss self-injury and/or other mental health related subjects. We have certain rules and regulations that help keep our members safe while browsing. We do not guarantee that you will not be triggered, but rest assured we try our very best to keep every member safe and happy.  

However, if this is a chance you do not want to take, a General Chat forum may be the best way to go for you. The disadvantage of a General Chat forum is that people may not understand your situation if you choose to speak about it publicly on the forum. You could choose not to share that information on the forum, and instead use the forum as a way to distract yourself from your problems with light-hearted conversation. In the process you may gain many online friends who are willing to discuss your self-injury and depression with you when you are not feeling very well. 

Many who self injure, see their self injury as very secretive, and are not keen on the idea of telling anyone about their addiction. We understand and respect this feeling, but keeping it a secret allows you more room for failure. You are allowing yourself the luxury of being able to give up at any given time. When someone knows about your self injury, they are counting on you and rooting you on constantly. This gives you a sense of hope, and inspiration when trying to quit. So please take this option into consideration, it will make a huge difference in your attempts to quit self injury.

To visit the Equilibrium Forums click here.