Then the distraction needs to happen until the urges do go away.

I think for myself, and others who struggle with SI, we overestimate how long the urges will last. I used feel the urge and act on it right away, thinking "I had to cut, the urge would never have gone away!" As I became willing to overcome this behaviour through therapy and distraction, I quickly realized that the urges go away sooner than I think.

ALSO...I have found that my SI urges are at their worst when I focus on the negatives in my life. This is where distraction helps, because if I'm too busy exercising, then my mind won't be thinking negatively. It'll be thinking about getting through the physical activity!

As I mentioned above, therapy has helped me overall by helping me identify what causes me to want to SI, what my triggers are, coping skills that work for me, etc.

Two things I know are: the urge usually goes away sooner than I think, and distraction is VERY helpful. It doesn't last forever, hang in there!