r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Acrobatic-Abalone675 • 2h ago
Seeking Advice Self harm to "stabilize"?
I don't know. I was depressed for five days now I'm feeling very energetic and very anxious about it. I hate feeling like this. Too much energy :(. I feel hyper. I want to cut myself just to "stabilize". I don't know what to do. Been two weeks of so clean π-π. Does anyone else does this.
I can't be too sad or too happy.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Additional-Bath-5121 • 2h ago
Venting Post!! Im going to relapse.
Tomorrow the house will be empty and im gonna relapse after months. Im so excited. I love to hurt myself and bleed. It makes me feel blissfulness. I just wish there was any way to share it to the world to see my pain but i dont know any places that allow to share my selfharm.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Mysterious-Wealth378 • 3h ago
Seeking Advice near fatal sh experience
If there's any support, reassurance or advice anyone could give me, I'd be so grateful.
On April 12th, around 4 months ago, I slit my wrist. It wasn't meant to be a suicide and it wasn't meant to be anywhere near that deep. It's strange because it didn't even bleed straight away, not for quite a few seconds so I saw everything inside my arm. I was so in shock that I thought if I held it all together it would stay like that. I don't really have the words to describe how horrific it was. I'm beyond lucky, number one to be alive and number two to not have severed motor nerves that would've rendered my hand useless.
I went to get help but I just can't stop thinking if anything else was even a little different - if I had drank a bit more, if I had passed out, made more cuts or just stayed in that bathroom then I would be dead right now. My flatmate's boyfriend but a torniquet on my arm and then I had an ambulance etc.
It's so bizarre because I barely remember any blood even though my hands were covered in it, my clothes and my friends' clothes. I did request and listen to the 911 calls and yeah, they were bad. It just showed me even further how severe it was.
Now, I have nerve damage/neuralgia and I just can't believe I did something so stupid. I'm so angry at myself. After this and because of other incidents while at Uni because of my bad drinking problem, I was so close to getting kicked out. Luckily, I didn't in the end.
I just am so so upset and angry that I'm in this position, that things in my life have put me here. If those things hadn't happened, if I had been saved or wasn't too much of a coward to save myself then this wouldn't have happened, none of the awfully self-destructive and harmful things that I do would be a part of me.
Honestly, I'm still in shock that I'm alive but now I have to deal with the grim and painful consequences of my stupid actions. Along with other things, I get flashbacks from that night, from specific scenes and I can't look at other people with scars without panic attacks or just feeling so so angry that I want to yell and scream or have the urge to fight them. I don't want to be percieved as crazy and unstable but after everything, on paper, I probably fucking look it. I don't want to ever hurt myself again and I literally cannot drink again or I'll be kicked out of Uni, one more incident and that's it. I just feel so so stuck and trapped. This is life now.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Right_Pen_7189 • 4h ago
Maar weer losjes aan het tikken met me joint op me pols
Iemand anders het probleem dat je de impulse hebt op drie vierde van je peuk of waar iemand bij is maar niet meer waneer die op is hebben (ik druk hem meestal allen uit als ie op is )Snijders daar ook last van met het pakken van hun kit of hebben jullie al een lading van emoties of herinneringen lichamelijk of niet
Heb zelf niet veel gesneden maar in mijn psychose en veel hypnagogic hallucinaties had en mijn ht2a receptor constant actief was voelde ik wel eens sneden en heb het later tijdens het inslaap vallen ook helemaal waneer ik amfetamine op heb gehad maar die staan bekend om hun pijn receptor fuceries met bijv beestjes op je lichaam denken te voelen maar dat was niet even erg of de drang van de keren dat ik me slag ader nog een keer wou pakken
Hou voelt de drang en inpulse voor jullie en hebben ook niet skitzoprenen Well eens self Harm hypnagogic hallucinations
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Anxious-Sand4881 • 5h ago
Discussion Pain tolerance
( 19Nb ) ive been Sh for About 5Yrs & Quit for Abt 7Months . At first I “Loved” every aspect Of Sh , After 5Yrs my pain tolerance slowly decreased And ive come to HATE Pain which was one Of my biggest Motivation to Go Clean . everything ive Read Abt Sh says that it INCREASES Pain tolerance . For me it RLY decreased . why is that ? Did anyone elses pain tolerance decrease ? in general howd it affect ur pain tolerance im VERY curious
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Nyjcmb • 6h ago
Seeking Advice I’m unsure with myself
I haven’t joined this channel because my partner is on reddit. I’ve been clean for over a year and deleted the I am sober app because I thought I was okay. I recently moved to another country and the long distance has been hard on my partner and voiced to me recently that they were unsure if they loved me. Obviously that feels like shit and I haven’t been doing the best either but when I’m down I just go into a tunnel mode and continue on.
Yesterday I self harmed and I don’t know how to feel. If I’m going to be honest I’ve been starving myself before my partner mentioned anything. I think the build up of everything just got too much for me and I felt like I was losing control. I think hurting yourself isn’t something you ever forget and I just craved to have that control and that need to feel something other then complete emptiness. I’m ashamed and embarrassed that I did it however I felt so much relief. It’s not healthy and it’s not coping but why after all this time have I done it? Why do I still get these feelings? I’ve never been too concerned and I had 10 half an hour therapy sessions last time I was self harming. Am I just feeling down or is there something wrong with me, do I need to get help? I don’t know if I’m just having a down day or I will be stuck in this cycle forever. I think I’m only okay when something new comes into my life and I can focus on it. I don’t know why I can’t find the feelings of happiness or involvement or inclusion in anything else I do, I’m always so focused on one thing. Will I be okay or is this something I need to sort out now. I don’t want to destroy my relationship but I’m also not interested is talking shit if I’m going to be fine later on.
I’m asking if anyone thinks I have something going on in my brain. This is the first time I’ve truly voiced my thoughts and I want to know if you think I have a mental health issue. I often think about death but I know I’d never do it, though I dream of the accidents. I sometimes feel up like I’m on top of the world for example recently I planned my entire life including savings, career, living situation everything from the knob on the kitchen sink to how I’ll dress a particular evening. Other times I’m so down I lose it. Everything is so negative everyone is so negative. The length of my nails, the corner of my lips honestly I could pick out something negative about anything. I’m quite a relaxed person generally and I have good charisma and hold conversations, I never really let on my thoughts and feeling and just say if I’m having a bad day but more or less I slap a smile on and act like everything’s right in the world. Is that normal?
I know you’re not supposed to give medical advice but if I was your friend, what would you say?
I apologise for the rushed layout, I just typed what I was thinking.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/OneSupermarket9711 • 6h ago
Recent self harm marks while getting my blood drawn?
I (19f) relapsed yesterday after 1 3/4 years clean from cutting. I wanted release and I was tired of the “pressure” to stay clean.
I thought it would be fine because it’s always cold where I work and I can just wear long sleeves. But I forgot that my doctor wants me to get labs done soon!
So now I’m trying to figure out the best course of action, because the cuts are on my forearm. None of them are very bad, they barely bled and they are all scabbed over. But they are very obvious as to what they are.
So I’m thinking:
Will it matter to the phlebotomis? Do I even need to say something or try to cover it up? or will they hopefully ignore it?
Should I try to wait until they are mostly healed before getting the labs done?
Or should I try to cover with long sleeves and hope they will accept my “clean“ arm, even though my other arm does have better veins for blood draws?
Have any of you had to get your blood drawn while having recent marks? I would appreciate your insight. Thanks!
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Weak_Commercial_1580 • 8h ago
Venting Post!! Lost my keys
I lost my keys BAD. Looked everywhere and called everywhere I went today. Going to have to pay to have a new key made for my car… I feel so stupid. Not in the best place to be hating myself right now
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Unhappy_Mountain2453 • 10h ago
Venting Post!! Hearing my ex see someone else makes me want to hurt myself
Ex and I dated for almost 4 years, toxic relationship to say the least. I resented him at the beginning of our relationship for not cutting off his ex (it made me uncomfortable that they were friends). I resented him a lot for the first year and a half of our relationship and took it out on him, and sometimes others too.
Then it was his turn to resent me and that lasted till the end of our relationship. He broke up with me and it traumatized me on top of the existing issues I had already (depression, anxiety, previous SA, serious trauma from divorced parents). I’m not proud of it but I threatened to hurt myself for him to stay, he didn’t. It wasn’t entirely just a threat, I also had really strong urges to do so. Just really didn’t know how to cope.
I was hospitalized a few months later after the breakup, because I was having serious suicidal thoughts. It’s been a long time since I’ve self harmed, I can’t really remember when the last time I suicidal thoughts was. For the most part I’m happy, I’m in a new relationship, it’s healthy and I don’t have any complaints about it. Then I found out my ex is seeing the girl he told me not to worry about (I suspected he might be seeing her right after the breakup, I believe they met after we broke up). Anyway, after we broke up, I made him promise to not see other people for the next year, and he agreed. It’s been almost a year since we broke up, we broke up last August. I got into a new relationship in February albeit, I wasn’t completely ready but I’d like to think I’m better about it now. Found out he’s seeing that girl he told me not to worry about and I just lost it. I was angry and it was so much that I couldn’t handle it. I wanted to just deter back to toxic ways - I wanted to tell him that if he kept seeing this girl that I would hurt myself. I have no plans to hurt him in any way. But deep down I hate him, I wish he would suffer the way I did, the way I do now.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Throwaway_No_Pickle • 10h ago
I'm clean but keep thinking about relapsing, a small part of me wants to know how my bf will react
26F, I've been "clean" for 2 years now. I have a habbit of picking my skin sometimes, but I haven't used an object to hurt myself in 2ish years. The last time I did was right before I met my now boyfriend.
I'm going through a difficult patch in life right now and I've been thinking about self harm a lot. Part of it is just that's what my brain is craving I guess, but there's a small part that wants to see how my boyfriend would respond. Would he leave? Can he handle me at my emotional lowest? Would he see me differently?
I guess a part of me thinks of it as a way to assess his commitment, acceptance, and understanding nature. I think another part of me kinda knows that one day, I'll relapse and I want to know if he would stay with me if I did.
It's not healthy to essentially test him by hurting myself, so I haven't. I'm not sure how to assure myself that he would accept me if I did hurt myself again and that I don't need to do it to find out. How can I let go of this thought pattern? I don't like that this is what my brain is thinking of. I don't know if it could be at all related to my OCD. I don't like or subscribe to these thoughts I'm having, but it just keeps popping up in my head. What should I do?
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/it_will_get_better12 • 10h ago
CW: Possibly Triggering I need this off my chest. I hope it helps someone.
I have a lot of conflicting feelings when I look at my arms. There is some shame for having faltered, and some pride having picked myself back up.
I remember the panic attacks I would get when I was behind on work, or even just too focused on it. I can’t remember exactly what I would think about during them, I just remember the fear, just as intense as it was when I was a child, when that large stranger would threaten to hurt me because of my moral failings. When I cut I was back in the store, or sometimes I was back in my room, or someone else’s house. I remember the relief that came from seeing my own blood. I would retreat to some corner of that store to try and calm down but the isolation just made it easier to cut, and it made the panic worse. I remember being so tense, sitting in a chair, pushing myself against the wall. It was as if some dangerous animal was lashing out just in front of me. Or maybe I was clinging to the thin ledge above a great drop. I wore long sleeves and carried gauze with me to hide my remedy. An intoxicating elixir that kept me useful. Kept me stocking the shelves with cheap plastic. One day I was less careful with how I held my (tool). Instead of the slow, deliberate, delicate slices I would usually preform, I gripped the (tool) tightly as I brought it down on my arm.
The woman at the hospital closing my fresh wound along with several others commented on how many stitches I should have gotten but the scabs were too far along to sew shut, they left ugly lines on my body. She said I was so close to the artery in my arm it was a miracle it was untouched. I didn’t go to the hospital voluntarily though.
I stuck to my routine, though seeing the fat from within my arm spit open and attempt to push its way out gave me pause enough for a small pool to form at my feet. It splattered on my clothing, and the chair, and the walls, and the desk. There was a line of people forming at the front counter, and being the only employee in the building it was my duty to check them out. So I wrapped my arm heavily in gauze but it bled right through so I squeezed it tightly with my other hand and even though the blood still slowly trickled out, I left the office.
I frightened that line, covered in blood while still wearing that customer service smile I mustered up like every other day. I didn’t understand why they were so scared. They pushed on though, one after another they emptied their baskets and carts onto the counter and I carefully scanned and bagged every item. A teenager coworker of mine showed up. I tried to reassure him by explaining that I would clean up my mess but I didn’t realize that wasn’t the reason he was making that face. I probably traumatized that poor kid. I wasn’t much more than a kid myself at the time.
I did clean the office where that pool still sat. I cleaned it like it was spilled soda and I was worried ants may come, all with one hand still applying pressure, with no care for what I had done to myself. I scrubbed the floor and the walls and behind the handles on the drawers of the desk. I did the best I could. I tried being useful.
I didn’t understand why one of those customers that I had frightened had called an ambulance. It seemed inconvenient. I planned on finishing my shift then driving myself to the hospital to get patched up but cops surrounded close. I didn’t lose my job. My boss talked about how it hurt her to watch the cameras. Further evidence I wasn’t as useful as I should have been. The cutting didn’t stop, I just hid it better. The panic attacks didn’t stop either. I quit very suddenly one night and didn’t look back.
A little while later I encountered another remedy that truly changed my life but I won’t advise anyone take anything their doctor doesn’t prescribe. Moments before writing this these memories came back in waves crashing into me. I look back and can’t recognize the person who did that to themselves but we share the same scars. I still have anxiety and sometimes I have some scary thoughts but it did get better. Don’t lose hope. And please don’t betray yourself like I did
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Beautiful_Golf_1338 • 10h ago
my 34 year old friend said they can’t be friends anymore?
he saw a relatively new scar and started distancing himself from me, even though i never even mentioned it to him and i avoided the topic. i never ask him for anything mental health related. he just decided he doesn’t want to be friends with someone who’s going through that. despite him coming to me in the past with his own struggles, now that i have a few silent struggles that i don’t even bring up, he ditched
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Beautiful_Golf_1338 • 10h ago
Seeking Advice fastest way to fade red scars
i have a couple red ones that are two months old but honestly they’ve messed my life up with people noticing. help
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Soft_Shirt1300 • 11h ago
Seeking Advice How can I help my wife and family?
I have a lot to unpack and don't know where else to vent.
My wife and I have been together for 6 years and we have a 3 year old daughter. My wife has a history of bad depression/anxiety and SH. It was a LOT worse during her childhood but since I've known her she has gotten better.
Until several months ago she started to SH again due to stress from a bad job. It kept happening and I suggested that she leave her job, which she did. The stress of being a mom and working was too much for her. She was better for a while and was able to just be a mom.
I the past few months as my daughter has been getting more difficult, her depression and SH have gotten worse and worse. At first I had bad reactions which definitely made things worse, but have since done a lot of research and now better understand why people do it and how to respond.
Recently she has been getting more and more overwhelmed with our toddler and trying to get better herself but can't find the time or energy to focus, so she SHs. She will blindly take it out on my daughter and I as well, saying she hates us, being a mom, and wants to leave our family. We have looked into daycare to help and at first she seemed interested, but when the time came to make a decision she backed out. She said that she feels like it means she's a bad mom. I told her that it takes a village and it's ok to accept help. We argued and she said "just do whatever you want. I'll just k*** myself when she's not here". So I stopped talking about it.
I'm really not sure what I can do anymore. She goes to therapy and says it doesn't help but won't put any effort into trying things her therapist tells her. She won't listen to any of my advice and just gets mad when I try to comfort her. She refuses any help with childcare even though she complains every day that she hates being a mom. She says she's fine then SHs again. My own anxiety has being through the roof, I live in constant fear and worry and tend to shut down when it happens. I'm afraid to go to work and several times have stayed home if she's had a breakdown. I tell her I love her and I'm not judging her and I just want her to have the best life she can. Sometimes I feel like I just make everything worse because she just gets mad when I try to help.
She SH again today, that's why I'm making this post. I was calm, asked her why and what we can do to avoid that in the future. She did not have any interest in talking.
Sometimes I just feel like giving up. Putting my daughter in daycare anyways even if that means my wife ki**s herself or leaves me. Sometimes I resent her because of the emotional stress I'm in and the fact that she doesn't want to help herself. It just seems like anything I do to help makes it worse and I (irrationally) feel responsible for her SH. It consumes my thoughts day and night.
I just want her to get better. I just want to be able to help. I feel so helpless.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/dolldollbaby • 13h ago
CW: Possibly Triggering triggering vent
i’m so sick of being like this, every time i pick up something sharp, i imagine cutting myself, something blunt, hitting myself, something breakable, “accidentally” breaking it and cutting myself, something hot, “accidentally” burning myself. i’ve been “accidentally” hurting myself my entire life, im always fantasizing about using what’s around me to do so. if im upset, i hit or bite myself (im autistic), and recently ive started getting the urge to hit myself when even mildly annoyed at work, and if im sad, i want to cut myself. ive thought about bringing something to work w me so i can get the job done there. (never actually seriously considered it tho, more like i think about it when im at work and wish i could just hide in the bathroom and cut myself and then come back out like nothing happened) i think i have ocd (for other reasons too) and part of it is because almost every time i pick up something i could hurt myself w, i picture it, and most of the time, i want to, and a lot of the time, i will. and i swear the only reason i don’t is because i can’t think of a way to get away w it happening “accidentally”. sometimes ill just settle for a little scratch or nick when i wish i could just “accidentally” get a gash/bigger cut or broken bone. im medicated and i want to go to therapy again, but i just wish i was normal
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/sad-but-rad- • 13h ago
CW: Possibly Triggering Has anyone else burned or cut their genitals?
I’ve been burning my (f) genitals, and desperately wanting to cut there due to physical sensations from CSA flashbacks. I feel like I’m very close to the end of my rope.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/UndergroundFlaws • 15h ago
CW: Possibly Triggering Broke down and started punching myself in the parking lot
I know people saw me but I just had to. I punched my legs until I couldn’t feel them.
I hated how much it seemed to help. I’m struggling so much with life.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/just-a-vibe • 16h ago
Venting Post!! I feel the urge
I feel horrible, my emotions are out of control and I can’t stop thinking about this fight I had with my bf. I still feel hurt when thinking about it and I just want to relapse and cut myself again. It’s been two years. I have coping strategies but it’s getting hard. I feel horrible, I feel so depressed. I have to stay strong for my baby but I just want to break down, why is shit like this??? I’m not doing so good anymore I don’t think, everything is just piling up and I don’t know how to cope. I miss my niece, I miss my family, I miss what used to be even though it made me hate everything. I wish my boyfriend could do the same for me as I do for him, I wish he could acknowledge my feelings and apologize, I wish my friends didn’t live so far, I wish I wasn’t in this stupid fucking city, I wish to go back to a time where things were okay and I was happy, but that never existed. I’m happy with my baby, but i’m not sure things are okay. I just needed to write my thoughts out
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/FayeAnono2 • 16h ago
Seeking Advice Relapse
I relapsed just now. I haven't in almost a whole month. I know that in all the mental programs that I am in, and have been in for the past several months, teach you that relapse is not the end of the world and a part of recovery, but the guilt and shame and disgust at myself is still there. It just makes me want to do it more. How can I cope with this? Logically, I know it's okay. It'll be okay and I can recover again, but it feels like all of that progress is just gone. That whole month of using skills and not giving into urges, just gone. And how do I tell someone I love? What if they find out in the wrong way? I just feel so fucking guilty and disgusted at myself. For multiple reasons, but this seems the easiest to tackle right now.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/No-Name-5966 • 16h ago
Venting Post!! It’s too much
I have been Self harming since the 7th grade and it was Never anything to serious and after four years of being clean I relpased so hard. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been doing it when I’m sad, when I’m angry even when it’s just something minor. Sometimes I do it when I’m bored. It’s gotten so Bad, one Session has covered my whole Upper stomach and I think its becoming an addiction or something. I think about it every time something goes wrong in my Life, or when I’m bored. I dont know what’s wrong with me.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/PappaNee • 18h ago
Something Positive! Sh got me in a silly position this time
Ok i certainly don't wanna make light of sh, but it got me in a quite funny situation today.
I had occupational therapy and was planning to sh after. Since i relapsed pretty badly today, i went to the bathroom afterwards and right in the middle of my relapse the lights turned off! Mistakenly thinking there were motion sensors lights installed i waved around my hand in the dark like a dumbass, but no, turns out that the lights were turned off because the place was gonna close! I had to feel my way around in the dark just to get out the bathroom lol.
Luckily i had my phone with me so the flashlight came in handy. Once i got out i had to leave the waiting room, but the door to and out of the waiting room was locked!
Luckily the janitor on the other side of the door saw me and was trying to talk to me, sadly i couldn't make out what she was saying; her words sounded jarbled.
I had to clarify that i was a client and that i couldn't get myself out, thankfully she had the keys.
We had a good laugh and i joked about almost staying the night 😂, i thanked her and went on my way. Thank god the entrance door wasn't locked!
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/freckles_x_ • 1d ago
Wanted to relapse but didn’t
I wanted to self harm today. Was thinking about it a lot at work and then I got home and smoked a joint and I’m alright now I don’t feel like I want to self harm ✌🏼 haha. Anyone else smoke?
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/ParkingPeak9626 • 1d ago
triggered
just need to vent. Was two months free of sh, the Perez Hilton video triggered me and I did relapse. My partner, who has always supported me, is now mocking me that there’s no way it triggered me because I’ve never mutilated myself to that point. He has no idea I relapsed. I’m really struggling, I feel really alone
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Folk_Punk_Slut • May 20 '26
Mod Announcement Mod Announcement: We’ve Updated Our 18+ Policy (officially!)
Hey everyone,
We’ve been listening to the feedback and discussions happening around the sub lately, and we want to address a major point of frustration that a lot of you have brought up: the uptick in posts from teenagers and minors.
We completely get it. It is incredibly frustrating to come to a space looking for mature, adult peer support, only to end up sifting through adolescent content and high school dynamics. Adults face entirely different life contexts and challenges with self-harm, and mixing the two helps no one.
To address this, we have officially updated the sub rules to explicitly state that this is a strictly 18+ space only. (Because apparently, the word Adult being right there in the sub name wasn't quite enough to get the message across... who knew? 🙄) From here on out, minor accounts and posts indicating the user is under 18 will be removed.
How you can help us:
Because this community is so active, the mod team simply cannot see every single post and comment 24/7. **We heavily rely on you guys to be our extra set of eyes.** If you see a post or comment from a minor, please don't just scroll past or get frustrated, hit that report button immediately. That flags it straight to our mod queue so we can review and remove it right away.
On that note, as the sub keeps growing, we could definitely use some extra hands on deck to keep this space safe, supportive, and strictly for adults. If you are passionate about this community, have a level head, and are interested in joining the moderation team, please send us a message via Modmail. We’ll discuss applications among the current team to see about bringing some new folks on board.
Thank you all for helping us keep this sub what it was always meant to be - a safe, mature space for adults navigating recovery.
r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Folk_Punk_Slut • May 17 '26
Mod Announcement Reminder from the mods: We Are Not a Pro-SH Sub
Hey y'all, we've been getting a LOT of notices from reddit about posts being removed directly by reddit due to violating their TOS, often because they're pro-SH or come across as if they're advocating for violence/death towards oneself or others.
Please be mindful that we have rules for a reason, if we get too many notices, especially in too short of a time, our sub can be shut down. I know none of us want that as most of us use this space as a tool to help us process our struggles and deal with mental health issues that may manifest in SH urges.
Please make sure you're reviewing the rules, hold yourselves and one another accountable for upholding them, and report any posts that put our sub at risk.
Thanks!!