How do I know if I am still at risk?

Almost two years ago, I tried to take my life. Thanks to God, I am still here. About a month ago, I was so distressed, I wanted to shoot my foot off. I am ok now. But my lingering question is How do I know if I am still at risk of harming myself? After the first time, I did not think there would be a second "episode". Now.....I continue to wonder, am I still at risk?

Honestly, I believe that SI is like any other addiction. It is very rare that the urges go away completely but in time we can usually get better at coping with them and managing situations without feeling a strong urge to SI.

SI is a coping strategy for most people who do it. Something we have learned to do to cope when everything else in our coping toolbox fails. If we get to points in our lives when all of our coping mechanisms fail again then the urges can return and be stronger.

But in time they get easier to manage and much less frequent as you can build up other coping mechanisms.

I agree with mazing, even if someone doesn't necessarily have addictive tendencies, once you have that urge to SI, and you actually follow through with it, it is so incredibly difficult to resist the urges after that. Most likely, you'll always have those urges, but over time they get a lot easier to manage and resist, and they won't pop up as randomly or frequently. While you may always be at risk, just stay strong, and know that things always get better feel free to pm me whenever you have these urges, because I SIed for countless years, and I'm now getting control over my urges and my addiction - I would love to talk to you, or just listen, or become friends with you. Hang in there

Well said. I agree completely.

Thank you mazing, falsememory7, and reesecups for your imput. I really appreciate your responses. I will try to get back to this posting after I find out what a trigger icon is.

Hi seeker, on the forum it is the little red x () that is next to the thread name. You can add it when creating a new thread or post. It should be under the text box you type in when creating a thread