hello <3, I've been self harming for about 4 years now and I want to quit so badly. after a bit into the first year I tried to quit and I was successful but developed an ED as another coping mechanism, I decided cutting was less dangerous/obvious and went back to cutting. I want to try and stop self harming aginbut I can feel myself relapsing with the eating disorder the more I don't cut, I need help finding a better coping mechanism that isn't so self destructive but I don't know where to turn
Habit replacement is pretty common when you’re trying to stop things. It’s great that you recognized what was going on and are trying to find healthier ways to deal with things.
Here’s a link to our alternatives page. While they’re not long term solutions, they can help you to cope momentarily. I also found a list of alternatives for ED behaviours which can be found here.
In general, try to find things that help you to get rid of stress. What works varies from person to person, so it might take a while for you to find something that works for you. Just keep trying things out until you find what helps you.
You can also find here a post Bree wrote about how to reduce self harm, as it’s not as easy as just stopping suddenly. And here's a post that I wrote talking about finding a path for recovery that works for you, as the most commonly discussed one doesn’t work for a lot of people.
Good luck, anon. And if you need to message us back, just put **5 in your message so that we’ll know who it’s from.