PTSD, coping mechanisms, self harm

[kaberett]

Content notes per the subject line.

So as I've been learning more about mindfulness, I've started finding it easier to reach for mindfulness-based techniques when I go into an anxiety attack: take five deep breaths; do a three-minute meditation; list ten good things.

But "easier" isn't "easy" and definitely isn't "always", and it is still the case that very often the thing that will make me notice I am Not Terribly Okay is catching myself digging my nails into my hands or forearms.

I've been thinking about coping mechanisms a fair bit, recently, what between counselling being good for me and trying to work out how to live gracefully with PTSD; and it seriously only just hit me that a huge part of my compulsion to self-injure is self-soothing from panic attacks, and that's been the case for as long as I can remember.

And so I circle back around, once again, to viewing self-harm as a value-neutral tool.

Comments

[wordweaverlynn]

That sounds like no fun at all. I have chronic eczema, currently confined (hallelujah) to a 6x5 patch on my right ankle and instep. Always itchy, often very painful, but hey, my hands don't currently look like I set them on fire. (Still scarred, though.)

[worlds_of_smoke]

Yeah, it sucks ass. I don't have it as bad as my brothers or Dad, though. -knock on wood- Men tend to get it on their face and both my brothers have it along their hairline. It's also a problem exacerbated by thick or curly hair and both brothers have both, so their scarring is really bad along the hairline. And, ofc, neither will actually get treatment for it. >.< (I got lucky and got Mom's practically nonexistent thin hair. :p)

I have eczema too, but luckily, that one's easy to keep under control for me since it's super minor. -knock on wood- It drives me insane when it's flaring up, though, because the itch never. fucking. stops. I usually catch it before a patch gets too big and then I cream the hell out of it until it fucks off.