Ideas?

[CMlvr93]

Does anyone know of anything that I could use as a distraction when I want to cut while I'm in school? I have some teachers that can really make me mad and some classes that bring up triggering subjects or things that just remind me of cutting. At home I can usually listen to music, talk to someone or just distract myself with my pets, but school limits my options and I just don't know what to do.

[Palladion]

You could try snapping an elastic band against your wrist, or if you don't want it to be obvious maybe against your ankle or somewhere else, or try drawing on your hand in red pen.
I had the same problem in school and lots of distractions just didn't work for me, one thing that did work for a while though was like a 'waiting game' like set yourself a time limit, like 5 minutes, to go without cutting and once you've done that set yourself another time limit until the urge passes, urges usually only last a short amount of time.

[Wonderful.]

There are lots of distractions you could try, look at a list on here and pull out all the things you can do in class that aren't too 'obvious', like drawing and things like that.

What I tend to do if I'm really struggling and I'm stuck in a classroom is I tend to ask to go to the loo and take ages washing my hands, I don't know why but being away from the situation and focusing on something else tends to calm me down. Especially if we are doing something in class that is particulary triggering and stuff.

You could perhaps try writing things down whilst in class, reasons you want to self harm, a letter to yourself, reasons not to self harm. Stuff like that. I'm not really sure what else to suggest, but I hope you find something that helps you. =]

[emokid697]

ice......pretend like ur wrist or leg or something hurts really bad go to the nurse and get ice...put the ice on a spot of ur body and focus on the ice melting and the numbing of it

[Hannah Montana]

Ice is good although it may look a little strange. I onced shoved my hand in a cup of ice whilst at work, and got a few strange looks.
I used to draw and doodle alot on a, or scribble really manically on a blank sheet of paper. For some strange reason that helped.. The elastic band idea may be your best option however. Take care :) xxxxx

[QuietChaos]

Urm. When Im in class and triggered, I sometimes snap a pencil, which kinda helps.

[staystrong]

Hope you are okay xxxxxxxxx I know this is so difficult and being at school feeling like you want to SH is really tough because you don't want anybody to know what you feel like doing xxxxxxx

Ohh ditto to above post :) Snapping pencils is a good one!
I also ripped up paper into tiny pieces, that always helped me. Or just scribbling on stuff to get anger out!

Hugs xxxxxxx Here anytime you need me via PM xxxxxxxxx

[lilrenthefox]

I was in college and going thru a lot, just read my forum if you want details, and i found that if i imagined my teacher was someone else or drew somewhere i wanted to be it helped. poetry helps too hun if you feel like writin, just write what you feel. doesn't have to rhyme either.

[CMlvr93]

Thanks for the ideas everyone! You've got some good ones! Hopefully some of them will be able to help.