[suzzie]

in my case that is. i emailed my t for some ideas to not s/i. she answered back saying....she hopes that i can finds ways to distract myself for now. and that as we work through this she hopes that it will lessen. guess that means i should be able to handle on my own until then. or maybe its not even a concern. im gonna just drop the subject with her.

[eskielover]

Actually, SI'ing is a trained body response to urge to act on an emotion. The point is to train the body to respond to those emotions that trigger this reaction in a different way because SI'ing is not a healthy way to respond to emotions.

It takes a lot of work to work on identifying the emotions when they occur let alone trying to retrain the physical reaction which is the coping strategy you have chosen to use to handle those emotions. You know it's not the best coping strategy you could come up with because there are too many dangers with it.......the point is to find other coping strategies to deal with those emotions that are causing you to have the urge & then act on that urge when you SI.

That is why your T suggested distraction.....because if you keep your mind thinking on other things than the emotion & your action, you will get through the emotion which is really a passing thought or reaction to a situation or event.

Sounds like your T should be really providing you with some good Emotional regulation DBT training to learn those new skills you desperately need.

SI'ing isn't part of THE process, but it has become part of YOUR process. I a sorry that she hasn't given you some thoughts on coping skills that you so desperately need. Seems like she could have given you some ideas so that you could use your imagination to expand her ideas to others that might be more things YOU would like.

Hoping that you get some good help with your SI'ing as there are definitely much better options that are less damaging to yourself.

Keeping you in my thoughts

[suzzie]

thank you (((((((eskielover))))))

[Sannah]

Originally Posted by suzzie

guess that means i should be able to handle on my own until then. or maybe its not even a concern. im gonna just drop the subject with her.

SI is a symptom of a larger issue which I'm sure your therapist is hoping to work with you on. You sounded really disappointed with her response?

[suzzie]

after thinking about it. i realize she gave the right response. i get it.