Hi Becka, and everybody else. I'm just getting back to the forums after working graveyard last night and being out of it most of the day today, so just now seeing this. It does look like you were able to reach an understanding, and I appreciate that very much.


Becka, when I asked you why you want to know, I was thinking about my own self-disclosure about SI, and responses that I have received. I suppose that I'm recovering from this also, but I slipped a little bit a couple of months ago, and for a few weeks I did not want to tell my T, but then I felt guilty about keeping a secret like that, and I did tell her, pretty graphically too. In my case it was pretty light. But the result of describing it like I did was having to spend three weeks trying to figure out why I wanted to talk about SI in that manner, and what kind of reactions I get from people when I do that. It wasn't fun.

There could be many different reasons for wanting to talk about SI, ranging from wanting to be understood to wanting attention to not knowing any other way to talk about our feelings to wanting to compare with others. I feel that if we are self-injurers, we probably have a tendency to act without fully considering the consequences, and that includes when we post or talk about it. It doesn't mean that it is right or wrong to talk about SI - just that maybe we ought to give some thought to what kind of responses we are looking for, as well as how we talk about it.

Another reason that I asked you why you wanted to know what you asked about is that now that you are recovering from SI and the wounds have healed or are healing, it's too late to tell you to go get stitches. Any cuts that are through more than one layer of skin, or deep enough that the fat layers show, or that gape open, or that bleed for a long time really should receive medical attention. But it just seems pointless to tell you that now, know what I mean?

Graphic descriptions of SI are dangerous to many of us here, even when trigger icons are used. We all should probably be careful about that. I know that often when I am not doing so well, and I kind-of feel like SIing but I'm only half-way motivated, I'll go looking for something triggery to push myself over the edge. I'll read it because it has a trigger icon. How much do you want to bet that I'm not the only one? And it can be so tempting to compare damage, which doesn't do anyone a favor either. I'm not just talking to Becka here - I think these are things we all should probably think about if possible. And I do understand that sometimes maybe it isn't possible, so we'll handle those times as they come.

Thanks again, everybody. Be safe.

Wendy