Im addicted, how do i explain to my best friend?

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So i have been self harming on and off for about 10 years now, and I have an addiction problem. Its gotten better. I have only self harmed once in the last week, (as to i would do it three times a day.) If i dont hurt myself after awhile its like my skin is itching and i cant get relief. Sometimes i will be fine and the next my arms feel like i cut them but i havent, which makes me want to cut them even more. My best friend just confided in me that she started cutting again and i dont want her to become addicted like me. How do i explain my addiction and help her not to get it too?

Tags: asked April 19, 2014

6 Answers

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accepted
I used to have an extremely similar problem. I was addicted to self harm and am still recovering, and my best friend got into it as well. I felt terrible and partially guilty like "if I had never have done this, she would probably be okay" which I realized later on that wasn't true. Having a best friend who also self harms is one of the hardest things ever. Because you want them to stop because you care about them and don't want them to harm themselves, but at the same time look what you're doing? It's almost impossible to encourage them to stop because you're being a sort of hypocrite. And I'm not pointing fingers at you at all, I'm just talking from experience and how I felt. Advice: The thing that helped me get my friend to calm down her cutting habits a little was reminding her any chance I could that she was amazing and just compliment her all the time. Any time she would start to text me she wanted to cut I would immediately call her and eventually lull her to sleep. I know it probably sounds stupid, but maybe you could try? I really hope everything goes alright with you and your friend. You can always talk to me more about it if you'd like, I would love to help.
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It's best to just come out and tell your friend what you have been doing and how you feel about the situation. Once you tell your friend you will feel a lot better. The longer you hold it in the more harm you and your friend will do to yourselves. You just told a bunch of strangers so why not your friend?
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I think it's important to tell your friend the truth, but also perhaps to offer some kind of help. Are you getting professional help at all? Maybe you could offer to go with your friend to a doctor or therapist? Although you can help to a certain extent, you can't change the choices your friend makes and she might benefit from professional help.
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All good advice but no matter what happens, just make sure you are there for your friend, and you two can support each other when the other is weak or low. you two can be each others most precious asset.
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Could you tell her your story and struggle. Show her your scars, and ask her to help you. By helping you in your struggle she will have subconscious permission to stop cutting too. Good luck.
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Try to make her read this you can send it to her just copy the self harm part in this link:http://depressing-suicidal-madness.tumblr.com/cuttingandsuicide It helped few of my friends realize how big of a problem self harm is and how bad and addictioning it is.Try reading it yourself