slipping up in recovery

Karen Rathgeber · 03-01-2016, 10:57 AM

hi, I have been struggling with depression and self harm for a long time. i am currently on 40mg of celexa but every once in a while I still have an urge to compulsively pick or cut. is it normal to feel an urge when still on a high dose of your medication?

Unbreakable. · 03-01-2016, 11:02 AM

Urges don't tend to just go away
Do you feel though that your meds are making it easier to fight the urges?

Filth · 03-01-2016, 11:48 AM

It's definitely normal to still have urges. The meds might help the feelings that lead to urges, but they aren't a silver bullet as far as the urges themselves. Self-harm isn't just hurting yourself. It's a coping skill, a whole set of thoughts and feelings that take time to rebuild into different paths.

Karen Rathgeber · 05-01-2016, 09:23 AM

the meds make my mood more neutral but i still have urges to self harm or to binge. when i get those urges sometimes nothing stops me from doing it. i can draw or whatever but i still do it anyway even though my mood may be neautral or nothing in my life is going on. at times i was doing it when i was not even paying attention and my friend say stop your doing it.

Greene0Kelly · 07-01-2016, 06:00 AM

I think your urges are your thoughts which are somehow medications doesn't cover. Learn to shift your focus into something you passionately doing. Idle thoughts are very dangerous.

Karen Rathgeber · 07-01-2016, 08:10 AM

so shift all of my focus into my passion? idle thoughts meaning sitting still? sometimes i dont have any negitive thoughts or anxiety and still do it

Margo · 07-01-2016, 11:01 AM

I think, with recovery, it's not the urges that matter but how we deal with them. Recovery isn't about stopping and retaining a state of wellness with no thoughts of what once happened. Recovery is about how we cope with those thoughts and how quickly we recover and move on from them.

I judge my own recovery in how quickly I "recover". I slip and fall and get urges even when everything is seemingly rosey.

Urges are normal and part of the process.

Accept them as a part of you and don't beat yourself up over them. It can be hard enough getting by without the added pressure.

Karen Rathgeber · 09-01-2016, 08:32 AM

i think i am ok with what happened and moving on but maybe not. i used to beat myself up when i failed. some say its part of learning but when it happens to me i felt like no matter where i went it would be the wrong path. that everyone can do it but me or i will never be good enough. Todays society has added pressure all around us. so how is it possible to not treat a set back as though its another failure in life?