Struggling with Mild Self-Harm Impulses

Totally. Happens when I become overwhelmed too or with big unexpected changes

I pick at my face acne for sure

Yes, I’ve struggled with this my whole life and it’s called dermatillomania. It’s so frustrating when you want to stop but part of you doesn’t care.

Yes, I can relate. Something that's helped me has been finding people with similar struggles. Knowing the names for these urges helped a lot: dermatillomania + trichotillomania (sp). I can't remember names right now but I found some people on YouTube and Tumblr that helped me understand it better

I pull at my hair obsessively especially when I am anxious/stressed and I am just now realizing that whenever I get home from work I want to squeeze every pore on my face. I’ve also picked at skin so badly that it hurt to move. It’s so comforting to know that so many others deal with this too

big same, skin picking is my main self-harm behavior and i find myself doing it most when i’m overwhelmed or at my limit for sensory input. i’ve tried everything from putting bandaids on my fingers to just letting it happen then feeling guilty later, and i’m still trying to figure out what works best for me

Yes, very much so. I couldn’t figure out how to share with the out sharing my story so I’ll share something I went through. I was doing an intensive outpatient program. I was informed before group session one day that my insurance was up and that because I refused to quit using marijuana I was being discharged. It sent me into such a panic I started scratching, one of my go tos. I scratched my wrists so raw that rather than discharging me, the doctors had me admitted on a psych hold because they were worried about releasing me and what more harm I would do to myself. My normal go to is scissors or tweezers and just scratching until I bleed but I can’t tell you how many times those have gotten infected. The scratches that for me admitted got so infected they had to bandage them up when I was admitted and the bandages had to be changed by a doctor because they were so bad. Please be careful! Sending you my love

You all are so sweet! Thank you 💕

You're not alone! I struggle with these all of these impulses as well and it especially is worse when I'm anxious. I used to self harm since I was 11 years old and now trying to recover from it, those impulses can get the best of me sometimes. While unfortunately I don't have much advice besides distract yourself, as this typically helps me, I wanted to let you know that you're not alone and I'm here for you 💕

This surprised me. i really relate to this SO much. the picking, cuticles, acne, calluses, all of the above! i’m not quite sure what a solution may be, but i just wanted to let you know that you are not alone.

I pick at my cuticles all.the.time. I deal with self harm thoughts alot too. I also understand doing the scratching thing. I was doing good until my brother passed away suddenly last summer. Then I had so much pain I wanted so badly to hurt myself. But I didnt (I scratched but it wasnt enough to leave scars or anything)

Yes I pick at my cuticles all day long and take cuticle scissors or even tweezers to mess with the skin. It ends up looking worse or painful even.

OCD is very likely in your case it seems like! to have the urges to do those thing when you know you shouldn’t and that they potentially get worse. I have the same issue!

I hear you, I've done similar things. I'm trying not to though, I'm supposed to replace it with healthier coping mechanisms like journaling. If you Google things to do instead of self harm you'll find lists of tons of different things... Try them, maybe one will work for you. It's hard, but hopefully worth the effort. Best of luck 💕

definitely, i used to have a problem with cutting as a 12-15 year old, now as an 18 year old i have to resist the urge everyday. I'm more of a scratcher tho, i tend to scratch my arms and thighs as hard as i can. i'm not a professional at all lol but you may have some OCD issues, i know that skin picking is a big symptom of OCD