#self-harm prevention

[neuroticboyfriend]

If you struggle with substance abuse but not addiction, you still deserve support. If you struggle with suicidality/self harm urges but don't act on it, you still deserve support. If you struggle with psychosis and paranoia but have insight, you still deserve support. If you struggle with anything but are "coping with it," you still deserve support.

You dont need to be in imminent crisis to get help - safety planning, harm reduction, resources, and accommodations. You're still struggling. You're still suffering, You're still at risk/in danger. You deserve better - you need better. Your health and wellbeing matters.

[valtsv]

do you ever think of me and my two hands, and wonder why they never soothed your fevers? and wonder why they never tied your shoes? and wonder why they never held you gently?

in other news i'm still in hell with these two

[recently-reanimated]

Cw: Discussion of Suicide

James Somerton, a youtuber who recently has been under heavy criticism for plagerism, has released a post on his private Twitter account that appears to be a suicide note. There are posts by other accounts saying they are attempting to contact the local authorities to do a wellness check. Whether or Somerton has passed away or any information about his current physical well-being is unknown.

The reason I have brought this up is because there are guidelines that should be followed when discussing suicide on social media. The American Foundation for suicide prevention recommend these guidelines from Orygen for discussing suicide. I have the full sources linked, but I have also provided images of what I believe is the most relevant section to this situation.

I am sincerely hoping for the saftey of James Somerton. As it states in the guidelines above, suicide is complex, and many factors contribute to someone ending their life. If you or someone you know is struggling, here are some resources. Recovery is possible for everyone. Regardless of what someone has done or has had done to them, it's a beautiful world, and no one should have to miss it.

[tavania777]

Septembre is suicide prevention month so instead of thinking of reasons to kill yourself try to think of reasons to stay.

Come talk to me if you need help

[anxiety-banana]

In honor of September being suicide prevention month, here are some ways to help your depressed/suicidal friends:

-"I'm glad you exist" texts go a long way, but "I love that you do (insert specific action)" and "my favorite thing about you is ()" texts go further. Be specific. It's hard to see yourself in any good detail when you're suicidal

-Text them. Incessantly, if you have to. Small "I miss your face" and "this reminded me of you" texts. I've known people who have said "if nobody talks to me/contacts me/takes interest in me today, that'll be the sign to kill myself" and a text genuinely saves lives.

-Help them discover and rediscover hobbies. When you're depressed, the first thing to go is your motivation, and finding things that bring you any amount of satisfaction is important. Offer to volunteer at an animal shelter with them, or put together a little scrap book, or go somewhere scenic to take pictures.

-A lot of suicidal people are known to self harm. If you notice these tendencies (scratching, picking at skin, rubbing or putting pressure on body parts, etc.) you can be subtle about helping them. Hold their hand so they don't scratch, or offer a hair tie to snap against their wrist, or ask to draw on them. All these things are super helpful without being obvious or embarrassing.

-If they're known to be suicidal, you don't have to talk about it unless it's obviously concerning. A lot of people who attempted don't want to relive it, even if they're in a better place than they were.

-Join in on simple self care needs: go out to eat with them, or grab food to eat elsewhere if they're anxious to eat around people, go swimming if showering is hard, have a little sleepover like you were both kids and do all the basic activities (brushing teeth, changing into pajamas, eating dinner etc.) together. This is best if you're really close to the person, but there are also ways to do this if you aren't super close.

If you have anymore, please add them! These are just the ones I've gathered both as the depressed person and the caretaker, but I know there are plenty more.

[danothan]

tough pill i have to swallow is realizing that “getting better” doesn’t mean “getting to do more things,” getting better for me means taking better initiative in protecting myself. and THAT means making sure i do LESS things

[putridement]

september is suicide prevention month,

to whoever reads this;

despite the pain, the loneliness and hatred, you’re still here. thank you for being you. you’re loved because i do.

[chaoticstateofaffairs]

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Call: 988

[gracien-system]

How to be safer when doing self harm.

We've seen a lot of posts talking about how there needs to be more resources for folks who self harm on how to do it safely, and how resources are overly focused on prevention rather than harm reduction. We realized that we have the knowledge to at least contribute to the "how to do this safer" side, and... well, this post is our attempt at that.

I will note that we are not medical professionals -- our mother was, for about 5 years, though, and so was our great grandmother. We've also done enough research to feel confident that we can give at least a general guide and pointers on how to reduce the risk of long term damage from self harm, but we're human -- if we make a mistake, and you happen to know that it's wrong, point it out in the notes. We'll reblog your version.

With all that being said, the info's under the readmore.

When it comes to self harm, there are a lot of methods that people use -- however, physical self harm generally has a few common presentations.

Cutting, scratching, and burning, are the 3 we're going to cover here. We'll go in order, top to bottom.

1: how to be safer when cutting

The first thing you want to do is pick your blade. A razor blade is much different to a knife, and both are different to a shard of glass, even though the aftercare remains similar.

The general guidance we can give is this: make sure whatever implement you use is as sharp as possible, and avoid serrated blades as much as you can. A simple kitchen or pocket knife is probably the safest option you have.

Whatever you use, make sure you sterilize it to the best of your ability beforehand. Dunk it in hydrogen peroxide or alcohol (pouring either over the entire length of the blade works, too.), or take a lighter and run it down the entire length of the cutting edge (this will fuck up the heat treat of the blade, and make it much harder to keep it sharp in the future, so I wouldn't recommend it for anything you'd like to reuse, but it is and option if necessary).

When you cut, pick your location carefully. Avoid the wrists and lower arm (there are a lot of veins and nerves you could accidentally damage or sever, which is a bad time.) a nice rule of thumb (though it may not work for everyone) is "if you can take your other hand and feel bone on both sides of the arm, it's probably too low". Make sure you don't cut lengthwise -- if you accidentally catch a vein going lengthwise, you'll almost certainly end up in the ER or worse, whereas going horizontally has a much lower chance of something catastrophic happening.

Other places to avoid cutting are: inner thigh (nearby artery), and the groin (extremely high bloodflow region).

While cutting, to avoid infection, it's important that if you set your blade on a hard and non-sterile surface, you wash it with alcohol or peroxide before using it again.

Try to avoid cutting deep -- muscle damage is hard to heal from, and nerve damage is harder still. Skin deep wounds will scar, but muscle deep ones usually require stitches.

Once you're done, wash the wounds and your hands with soap and hot water, then a disinfectant. Dry them with a towel or paper towel, then put bandages over them (or bandaids, if they're small enough.)

How to apply a bandage: get cotton pads, gauze, or something similar, as well as tape. Press the gauze against the wound, then tape it to the surrounding skin. Change once every 4-6 hours (or until you can see blood on the exposed side, whichever is sooner.) until the bleeding has stopped, then once every 6-8 hours until it has healed.

You've minimized your chance of infection, scarring, and permanent damage. Good job. We're proud of you. /gen

2: how to be safer scratching.

With scratching, you want to make sure that you wash your hands thoroughly before and after, especially under your fingernails. A good way to make sure that your fingernails are clean is to take some soap, put it in the palm of your hand, then scratch the palm for a few seconds under running water. Do this with both hands.

If you draw blood, make sure to disinfect and bandage the wound. If you don't, make sure to wash it afterwards.

Scratching carries of a lot less risk of permanent damage as opposed to a lot of other methods, but has a much higher chance of infection if you draw blood and didn't disinfect your hands. Just be careful, and you should be fine. We're proud of you. /gen

3: how to be safer burning.

We can't advise on the method as much as we would like to, here, because there are a lot of ways to burn yourself. We're going to assume lighter, but the advice we give should be applicable to most localized 1st and 2nd degree burns. If you give yourself a 3rd degree burn of any sort, no matter how localized, you need to see a doctor as fast as possible.

1st degree burns are comparable to a (mild to moderate) sunburn -- uncomfortable, potentially risks infection if not cared for properly, painful, and just generally not a great time, but not very dangerous if treated properly. Standard protocol with all burns is to wash the affected area(s) in cool water for 30 seconds to a minute immediately after the burn. With 1st degree, it's your choice whether you want to apply something like allo or lotion to it, afterwards. It might help reduce pain and/or help it heal faster, but it's your call. Just make sure to keep the area clean and cool.

2nd degree burns are more serious. Depending on how big the area burned is, you might want to see a doctor, but that's up to the individual. If you want to treat it yourself, wash for 30 seconds to a minute in cool water, then apply a lotion or allo to it. Once you've done that, apply a bandage over the area, and let it heal.

We aren't an expert in identifying what is first, second, and third degree, in terms of burns -- but there are plenty of resources our there to help you with that. If someone adds one to this post, we'll edit this to include it.

Congrats, you've minimized the risk of long term damage. We're proud. /gen

Closing notes

We know there's a lot out there that would like to say that recovery is an on/off switch. It isn't. The best way to recover is to minimize the harm as much as you can today, and and work towards other coping mechanisms as you can. Don't believe that you're lesser, somehow, for needing an intermediate step, or intermediate steps.

We hope you have a wonderful rest of your day/night, and we wish you good luck -- both in your recovery, and in your life.

[aces-spade-palace]

A story for those that need it. (TW for depression, suicide, SH, and abuse talk) Life has gotten insanely better since I was younger. When I first found Tumblr, I was a depressed, suicidal pre-teen. Tumblr actually made my life so much worse. I got into the dark side. The self harm side. I would compare myself to others and wish I could do worse. I would starve myself and now I'm paying the price for it. Now I look back and see how bad it was. At the time I had no idea half of what I was doing needed medical attention. Now I look at my scars (since I worked in healthcare for 6 years) and see that I probably should have gotten stitches for many of the things I did. I had attempted. I had wanted to end it all. That continued through high school and into adult hood. I had wanted to end it so many times. I thought I hated my parents when they were trying to do the best for me. I screamed and cried myself to sleep most nights because I just hated being here. I had 7 therapists in 5 years. One trip to the psych ward. I have been in abusive relationships and friendships. Lied to and cheated on. I made terrible decisions that could have killed me and I didn't give a damn. Up until a few years ago, I had thought I would be better off dead. I was also close-minded. I was an asshole and genuinely just a terrible person. Now, I'm 25. I found that I am an agender, queer being who enjoys pole dancing and theatre. I also was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety. I am getting married in just a few months. I am working job that I make 50k in without a college degree. I have three cats and we are going to start looking to buy a house after we get married. I am genuinely happy and content with my life. I learned to love myself. Yes, I have my days where I look in the mirror and get dysphoric, I get insecure, but more often that not anymore, I am starting to love myself again. It takes time. A lot of it, but at the end, it is really worth it. YOU do have to put in the work, even if you don't want to, even if you're being forced to, but I promise you that life can be so so worth it. I lived my dream job. I moved out from my parents house and our relationship got better. People have told me they look up to me and that they are proud of me. Yes, boundaries had to be set, my heart had to break on multiple occasions, and I got hurt countless times, but that is a part of healing. The hardest part of it all is doing the things you have to do for yourself. Cutting ties with the people who are genuinely causing you harm, with the things causing you harm, even if you don't realize it. You might feel like you're being selfish, taking care of yourself, but that's because you haven't done that yet. And when I say taking care of yourself, I don't mean go live in the woods in a cabin and hibernate. I mean confronting what is causing you harm. Taking care of your body and mind. Have the difficult conversations, and actually taking steps to improve your wellbeing. No I don't post this to brag, I post it to show that life can change for the better, and it is possible. It just takes work. You got this. My situation is not like everyone else's and I know that. But it is possible to get better, and if no one reads this, that's okay. If only one person reads this and realizes that life can get better, I would be ecstatic. I just want you to know that it is okay to not be okay, and this feeling is temporary. You can do this, and I believe in you. Stay Safe, Stay beautiful, Stay Handsome, Stay Wonderful, and be the best version of you that you can be. You are loved and you are cared for. If you need anything, reach out. I'll be here, and if im not, someone will be here for you.

[cryptid-moose]

tattoo hcs for psych characters

Shawn: - Has a shitty, partially faded stick n poke tattoo of a pineapple on his ankle he did when he was 18 or 19 and couldn't afford to get a professional one done - He also has his mom's birthday tattooed on his wrist (professionally done this time), first line in roman numerals, the second in regular english numbers. Having that little reminder of his mom helps him during times when his mental health gets really bad. - Sometime after Henry gets shot Shawn considers getting his dads bday on his other wrist, idk if he went through with it or not tho.

Gus: - Gus doesn't have tattoos cause if his mother were to ever find out it would break her christian heart....and also she'd probably murder him lol /nsrs - He almost got a tattoo when he was drunk, but he bailed out at the last second. This actually happens quite often. - If he did end up getting a tattoo I'd like to imagine it'd be something space themed :)

Juliet: - Has this really cool floral design with lots of big flowers on the back of her shoulder - She wants to get DOZENS of other tattoos but currently hasn't found the time to schedule an appointment, especially cause most of the tattoos she wants to get done would take multiple, hours long sessions

Carlton: - He, unfortunately, committed the cardinal sin of getting your partner's name tattooed. He's got his ex-wife Victoria's name in a fancy font across his collarbone, probably another attempt to save his marriage -He's going to tattoo removal sessions tho thank god -His pain tolerance is usually higher than most people (he literally drank scalding hot coffee without screaming out in pain lmao), but getting a tattoo makes him so physically uncomfortable that i dont think he'd every get one again, despite how fun getting a tattoo of his favorite gun sounds lol.

Buzz: - Buzz canonically has had a Baha Men tattoo (removed), although this was according to Shawn so you can take that information with a grain of salt lol - Probably has a silly little lineart doodle of an alien somewhere - He and Francine have little matching tattoos of baby ducks <3, Buzz's has a cowboy hat and Francine's has a Wild Rag (the bandana thingies), the artstyle is very similar to the soft fluffy artstyle you see in older children's books, kinda like peter rabbit (but not quite peter rabbit) - Little banana wearing a cowboy hat 💪, Buzz likes cowboys and their hats - A couple doodles of his pets - He's like Kurtis Conner except not edgy (i dont actually think Kurtis is edgy thats just the only way i can describe the difference between them and their tattoos lmao)

Karen: - Has an Iris flower tattoo on her upper arm dedicated to her daughter - Probably has a book/movie quote somewhere - Other than that i don't really see her as being much of a tattoo person, she only ever gets tattoos if its something super meaningful to her

Woody: - Woody has a y2k style hello kitty tramp stamp, why? cause i think it would be funny as hell HSUADFVHUFE - He got it completely seriously too, was a gift from a "tattoo artist friend" (random guy he barely knows who bought a tattoo gun on amazon) - The linework is awful, Woody has never actually fully seen the tattoo, he just took the guy's word for it when he told woody it looked sick as hell. - Has shown it off to everyone at the sbpd, no one has the heart or guts to tell him how bad it looks, Lassiter almost did but Chief Vick stopped him - Has genuinely never occurred to him to ask someone to take a photo of it for him so he can properly see it

Henry: - You'd think he'd have a tattoo but surprisingly he doesn't yet - He would've gotten one already if not for the fact hes very indecisive about that stuff, the whole "drawing that will stay on your body for the rest of your life thing" is a lot of pressure for him - He just worries about getting something that he'll end up hating a few years down the line - Has considered getting a tattoo dedicated to Shawn on multiple occasions, but then Shawn pisses him off once more and he drops the idea again for another couple months lmao

[moonlover9191]

The lines project, on December 15th-20th we will draw these color lines on our wrists or arms with markers or sharpies.

If you are depressed, feeling down or etc, you will do this on your left wrist.If you are supporting this cause then draw lines on your right wrist, these lines represent the millions of lives lost from suicide.

Repost with the tag '#the lines project' to get the word out.

Remember that you aren't alone. There are people you can talk to. (You can start early if you want to)

[nickbutnodick]

what if im actually permanently broken and i'll never be good enough

[teasel-backatitagain]

Thinking about her (Karina Braun)

[babyblueetbaemonster]

Wip Wednesday

Tagged by @hannahcbrown! Thank you for tagging me <3 Hope you don't mind but I'm going to tag you right back!

I guess we're on the content warning part. CW: self harm, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, near death experience, blood.

Previously on After the Oblivion Crisis: Baurus trying to find his friend in the Anvil Manor. He's now in the basement. Alright let's go:

He walks in a wide room with high ceilings. He must enter the final chamber. Baurus feels a little exposed walking in such a big space, surrounded by darkness. He wants to light up some candles, but all of them he finds are completely used up. He sees something in the middle of the room. There's a stone altar. 

Baurus would rather not know what kind of dark rituals they're performing. Candles on the corners are all melted. The wax dripped down like skeleton hands, hanging ominously. On the altar, he sees Soul Gems. Maybe the dim light is the cause, but they look darker compared to the others. 

As Baurus walks closer to the altar, the scent of blood gets stronger. The metal smells remind him of all the battles he had. His grip on the blade is getting tighter. He is getting anxious, but keeps his steps steady. He looks behind the altar, and sees…

"ACELTA!!!"

The said mer is lying in a pool of blood, face down, unconscious. Baurus drops everything, rushes to his side and checks his pulse. His pulse is fast but weak. He can tell the mer's heart is trying its best to keep him alive. Acelta's skin lacks warmth and is covered in cold sweats. His breath is shallow. He's alive, but barely.

He flips him over, and sees his wounds. Multiple cuts on his right arm, still bleeding. Baurus immediately reaches Acelta's satchel. This alchemist always carries enough health potions, but is he even in the right condition to drink potion? He makes an instant decision and pours the whole bottle on the wounds. He grabs a dagger that happens to lie next to him, tears a piece of his clothes, and ties it on his upper arm. Baurus puts the wounded arm on the mer's body, carries him up, and starts running.

Thank gods the chapel is right across the street. Why is this basement so big? I'm glad I lit all the candles. Stairs! There's too many stairs! I think I dropped my sword back there. Is he still breathing? I hope I know some healing spells. Please don't die. Please don't die. Please don't die.

Baurus runs to the chapel across the street, then kicks the chapel door open!

"Help! Please! Help! I need a healer!"

The priestess guides him down to a room. Baury places the dying mer on the bed, stands back, and watches her casting a healing spell. Instead of the usual blue lights, it's purple. She casts again, and again. More purple.

"We got an Atronach! Get Amragor In here!" 

"What's wrong?!" 

"He's absorbing all the spells! I can't heal him!" 

Another healer comes in. They take turns casting spells. Even more purple lights. Nothing works! A memory springs through Baurus' mind. "His necklace!" He pushes over those healers, grabs the blue amulet, and rips it off the mer. The spells start to work. Their spells still get absorbed from time to time, but his bleeding has stopped. 

[macabrevampire]

when yr feeling okay but then you remember your skin will never be normal again because you decided to take your problems out on your body