If someone gave me a clean "2 inch surgical scalpel blade" I'd probably do a lot more damage than I ususally would - because I could. And because I'm not good at judging pressure to use, etc.
If they gave advice on how to clean (as best as you can) the sharps you already have then that would reduce the risk of infection but not exactly encourage the SH behaviour.
For those doubts that swirl all around us
For those lives that tear at the seams
We know… we’re not what we’ve seen
For this dance we’ll move with each other
There ain’t no other step than one foot
Right in front of the other
I can see where they are coming from about making it safer for self-harmers but I think, as xxgothic_angelxx said - if I was given a sterile blade then I would still do it as badly, if not more badly because I would use it in the same way as the tool I might use myself.
I think it also gives out mixed messages, how are people to stop if they know that there are people out there prepared to give out sterile blades? It is hard not being able to self harm but that's what needs to be encouraged. However, I think Nurses need to make the patients more aware of infection & about how to look after the wounds properly to help prevent infection & also encourage them to seek help if the wound needs medical attention.
I think it needs to be a balanced opinion - on one of the wards I was on if you self harmed you were chucked out which I think is too extreme but I think it would be extreme in the other way if they were handing out blades to patients who self harm.
I hope this idea doesnt come out to teenage self harmers in hospital or otherwise. There could be some very serious lawsuits from parents. They put their trust in the system to help their kids STOP self harming, not to give them blades to do it!
I think if we can give drug users clean injecting equpiment we should give self harmers sterile cutting eqipment
Other wise its one rule for one and another for the other - it would also imply that drug use is more exceptable than self harm... (neithers fab but noone government/nhs should be able to judge one more exceptable than the other)
“Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles.”
----
i think its okay...but to be honest i'd rather get them myself...because thats kinda the proccess i go through...it'd make me feel better if i knew I got them...but thats just me
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Surely...wouldn't giving self harmers the necessary equipment to deal with any harm they cause themselves, be a slightly more logical idea? (Like badanges, antiseptic cream, steri-strips etc.)
Umm...giving out clean, sharp blades, seems slighlty dim to me.
x
Do it for those who know you can and for those who think you can’t.
I would probably have too much fun with a surgical scalpel anyways. I'd give a drug user sterile needles. What's the difference between self harm and drug use? Drug use has been slightly more accepted. Drugs aren't always used as a form of self harm, though. Maybe why its more accepted.
EDIT:first aid kits should go along with these..I don't buy first aid stuff half the time and use old shirts or something to wrap a wound cuz bandages are too expensive..and I'm cheap.
Don't forget that opiate users are given syringes and needles etc due to the spread and danger to health from HIV and AIDS. The Government decided that AIDS was a higher risk to human health than the problem of taking and injecting the drugs. I have been supplied with tubigrips and gauze and other first aid equipment from the mental health day centre. It depends on who you know. I am never without sharps even though I have not self harmed for awhile I still keep them. I never throw them away unless used. I always use a new one and don't recycle that is just common sense. Maybe one day I will be able to throw them away and live without them. People are going to self harm whether there are blades available through a nurse or at the local boots. Surely better coping mechanisms should be encouraged just like the CBT I do with my CPN.
If it's going to happen, it should be a given, if you're handed a blade to do the damage, you should get the products to treat and care for it properly. Also, it should be "controlled" to whatever extent it can be. Either require the person to self-harm in the hospital and then get it treated, or require the blade back after an hour or so.
Honestly, blades are extremely easy and cheap to come by, so handing out free, sharp and sterile blades is somewhat pointless. I agree with what's been said, it should be the aftercare that's given freely, not the injuring product itself.
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i think it'd ridiculous.
it's basically saying 'here's a blade, go cut yourself' ¬_¬
they're meant to help, not encourage.
if someone cuts themselves with their own equipment, then fine.
you can give them stuff to clean cuts with, first aid etc.
but don't give them god damned blades.
it's just wrong :/
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman, like you imagined when you were young.
Take me for example, i was without a blade, so i smashed one of my throw away razors for my face, and used that to cut, it got infected, i was desperate to cut, i had to.
If i could get real, clean razors from the NHS, that would be alot safer for me.
And when i decide i'm ready for help, i'l know the Nurses have backed it and i can most likley get help.
On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
Im quite shocked, i dont understand how they can call it controlled self-harm unless someone was there with you watching you do it. Like a few people have said, if they were to give me a blade id probably do it much worse because it would be a tool im not use to using therefore wouldnt know what potential damage it could do
I do think giving out first aid kits would be a good/better idea though, ive often found myself stuck without anything to clean up wth and id definately ask for one
Carly xxx
I tried to be someone else, but nothing seemed to change
I know now this is who I really am inside
[I don't wanna die, but i ain't keen on living either]
No no no.
This is a bad idea.
I think that at least the person should be very well known to the health services first because otherwise it just makes it seem that little more ok. And it should be sort of neutral like RYL. Maybe just more education about safety and sterile blades rather than just handing them out like sweets
Last edited by jessye : 09-06-2007 at 08:15 PM.
Reason: woops spellcheck
What doesn't kill you can only **** you up for a really really long time...
I do understand where they're coming from because it can be seen as a form of 'tertiary prevention', i.e. the problem's already there and they want to make sure it doesn't turn into something worse, but surely giving them some kind of help rather than a clean blade would be a better way of helping them.
Like I said, I totally get where they're coming from but it's not such a good idea...
The only time you will find real light is when you're searching in the dark..
from a personal standpoint if they handed me new clean blades
it would only encourage me to cut more maybe only slightly but I would not see a real benefit for myself
its hard to say if life is a sad thing or a joy
because some look at it as rainbows and flowers
and some look at it as graves and funerals
because the horrible things will happen
but the great things will happen
it seems are attitudes define it more then the roads we travel
all I know is that I could look at is as a curse or a blessing
ether way its my choice to be positive or negative.
i have mixed views i think its a brillaint idea when i think of having access to free clean blades but then when i think about you lot and friends having access to blades sickens me. I think theyre encouraging self hmr because my CPN told my parents about 4 years back supplying me with sterile pads, micro-porois tape etc to look after my wounds is the right way to go about it but my doctor from when i was hospitalized said its a terrible idea and it encourages me to cut.
I also heard on the radio certain mental health hospitals have a 'cutting room/ where theyre supplied with blades and there are poeple there to care for the wounds. I just wish my hospital would have done that.
