Self Harm And Therapy

[xXxXx]

The service I am moving to will offer me groups where you go out and do normal things, a crisis drop in, hospitalisation etc. but no 'Therapy' due to my self harming.
Is that common?
What are your thoughts on this?
X

[angel01]

personally therapy was useless for me. My cutting became like a drug addiction at the end. No one was going to help me quit until i decided i was done.

[xXxXx]

Yeah I guess it has to come from you being ready. I'd just never thought about it that way and always assumed that it would work the opposite way. It says in the information they have given me that when you are self harming you are unable to focus on getting better.
X

[HiLz]

Funnily enough, when I was in therapy for self harm/anger/self hatred I cut myself even more.
I had to decide to stop.

[angel01]

Funnily enough, when I was in therapy for self harm/anger/self hatred I cut myself even more.
I had to decide to stop.

omg! i got sent to treatment where they obviously forced me into therapy and i cut more too! it's like every conversation adn action was about cutting so i was like wtf you guys are making it so i constantly have to focus on not cutting which reminds me of cutting which makes me cut!!!

But like i said frommy experience your not missing much therapy wise. By no means am i saying dont do it just tellign you my story. If you feel you need therapy as well i would specificly suggest it.

[Doll13]

Self-injury usually occurs in conjunction with other things; It's not a diagnosis in and of itself.

I was in therapy for many years, for many things, with many different therapists. The ones that helped me the most in regards to the SI, were the ones that didn't focus on it and trusted me to take myself to the hospital when I needed it. The ones that would freak out, over react, or drop me as a client because they were scared, were the least helpful (perhaps even harmful).

Addressing all the other issues (the alcoholism, DID, ED) went a long way in helping me to overcome the SI, even when I was at the point where I just resigned myself to the fact that I was eventually going to end up dying (accidently) because of it. Are you getting any therapy for anything?

[xXxXx]

Sorry it's taken so long to reply I didn't realise there were posts I hadn't read!
I was seeing a psychologist for CBT once a week but as of now I wont have any one to one therapy. I will still see my psychiatrist as necessary (currently about once a month) but will be taking part in group sessions like walking etc. Although I might not even be able to access this due to the fact I work full time.
I'm really struggling with the idea of not having one to one sessions. I had a CBT therapist who I got on with really well but they left. I really felt I was getting somewhere then. The problem is you were only meant to have six sessions and I saw various people there for four years. I know I need to give it a go but I feel I benefit from one to one time to talk things through.
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[tatiana13]

As to whether not wanting you do therapy...if "that's normal." Well, so little of mental health support is based on research or science, that "what's normal" is a hard thing to pinpoint. HOWEVER. It's not "odd" for a program to believe that stabilization has to happen before you do "therapy," particularly when someone has any self-destructive behaviors. But since "therapy" can mean a lot of things...I wouldn't say this is "the" best way. If therapy means talking about distressing things (which may trigger you to self0harm), you can see how stabilizing your meds and social situation *first* may be helpful. If therapy means coming up with strategies specifically *to help you stabilize* your social situation, well, you can see how therapy could be immediately helpful. I've had both kinds of therapists. And generally speaking, I have to say that if you're not living at home with parents, and have to get up everyday and go to work and manage, its been better for me to *stabilize* rather than to dig into the past or other things I find distressful. But that's just my personal experience. Some people don't have the ability to stabilize without working through things. So that's a valid perspective as well.

My advice? Try to get all the good you can out of what they're giving you. In a perfect world, we'd all have the best, most professional, state of the art support. But almost none of us do. So, use *what's good* out of what you have. I'm in the US, where health care is private. And I sometimes went *years* without the help i needed. Because I didn't have mental health insurance. Well, I paid for what I could afford. Which wasnt as much help as I needed. It wasn't optimal. But, I did get *something* out of it. It kept me alive. And, for the most part, kept me working. I was miserable. And on the edge a lot of the time. But it wasn't useless. I moved forward. Even if just a little bit.

You take care of yourself. Okay?

[xXxXx]

Thanks for your reply.
I think your advice about taking what I can from it is really helpful. I guess I need to see this as a new starting point as opposed to the only support I'll receive from now on.
I am really lucky to have had the support I've had even if it hasn't been ideal. I have spoken to my psychiatrist about how I'm feeling and she admits this may not be the best support for me but it also could be just right. I guess sometimes you think you know better than anyone else what's best for you but maybe you don't as you can't see the whole picture. I think I'm going to go with what they advise and give it a really good go. At the end of the day they have lots of experience in finding the right services for people.
The new service will involve lots of group work and I'm starting to think that maybe it's more that I'm scared than I don't think it's right for me.
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[KDee]

I'm pleased you're feeling more optimistic about the whole thing. Hopefully there will be heaps of things that you gain from being a part of the group and taking part in activities and maybe because of the other benefits you will feel less like you want to self harm (i hope that's what happens for you )

Wishing you all the best and it would be great to hear how you get on.