I think those were some great posts. Thank you for writing those out for people. I had suffered with bad cutting for around 3 years. One day, during a hospital stay, I finally was fed up with being out of control with it and made the decision to try everything in my power to stop. I had a few slip-ups along the way, but I have it under control now. Even more than that - I have no urges whatsoever. I'm very proud of myself for fighting it. I feel very much for everyone who is currently struggling with self-harm, and I hope that you can find the strength to fight it and use the methods described here.

For me personally, I used red marker on my arms and just went to town with it. I also painted with red paint whenever I felt myself getting lost. It grounded me and made me pay attention to whatever it was I was painting. And it also satisfied my mind's need to see red. The red marker and red paint kinda did a "fake-out" to my mind, giving it that colour soothed me a bit.

My current coping mechanism, for whatever overwhelming emotion I have, is music. And I don't mean calmly listening to it. I mean, when I'm home, I turn it up loud, I stomp around the room if I need to and I just sing my heart out. I just let it all out as much as I can. If I focus on the music, I can get that energy out instead of it turning self-destructive.

Everyone is gonna have their own unique way of fighting it. Nobody give up if one thing doesn't help, there are so many techniques and ways to help.