anyone else experienced this?

[jekka]

So I recently fell onto a wire fence and cut my arm, totally accidentally.
Since then I have had a marked increase in selfharm and other negative thoughts. Admittedly I am in a pretty negative space anyway due to both my current physical medical issues and my depression is getting bad again. It feels like the feeling I got when I cut myself accidentally was like a reminder of what has helped in the past. Has anyone else experienced this?

[nonperson]

Yes, very much so. It's not unusual in my work to occasionally get cuts or grazes and I do find that hard. I do think that it's a fairly "normal" response in a way as our association with wounds has become unusual by the nature of self harm.

[AJ303]

Yes definitely, If i have a bruise or scrape from just day to day life even when I've not been harming much I start using it (ie putting pressure on it) to try regulate my emotions. When it heals I then get very triggered as I want the pain control back.

[goose_kid]

Oh yeah that’s totally normal! For me, feeling pain on the places I used to SH and seeing an accidental bruise, cut, scratch, etc. can cause me to have large urges to continue the pain. Urges are completely normal to feel, and they can be very difficult to not act upon them at times. My advice is to either draw on the places you want SH, or taste something either really sour or really sweet or spicy to allow you to feel other physical sensations that aren’t negative. Something that may help a little is maybe drawing what you are feeling, or maybe try journaling!
(It’s totally ok if these don’t work for you too, these are just things that sometimes help me get through.)

[Pi.R^2]

Closing due to age. Jekka, feel free to PM me if you would like this thread reopening at any point.