Alternatives to Self Injury

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17 Anti-Binge Strategies

1. listen to music really intently
2. tumblr/blogger
3. keep hands busy
   crafts
   paint nails
   draw
4. stick to a regular eating schedule
5. keep healthy snacks on hand
6. progress, not perfection
7. don't focus on weight loss, but rather a healthy relationship with food and your body
8. remove trigger foods if possible, or ask your caregiver not to buy certain foods
9. quit unnecessary diets
10. keep a food journal without numbers in it, such as weight, calories, how many servings, etc. BED and bulimia are just like anorexia in the fact that you're still obsessed with food and numbers
11. handle stress as it comes instead of waiting until you explode in a binge
12. HALT
13. exercise as much as you can, as much as you want, for health instead of weight loss
14. sleep well
15. go easy on yourself after a slip-up
16. don't wait until tomorrow to start over
17. eat what your body needs but stay away from trigger foods if possible

distract, self soothe, and calming activities

first up we have the dbt skill distract, aka, wise mind ACCEPTS.
here is a page about the skill
and here are a few ways to use it:

• activities: take up a hobby, do something you enjoy, do something you need to do if you have the spoons, such as cleaning
• contributing: make your own coping skill blog, volunteer at a soup kitchen, etc
• compare: comparing to others may make you feel worse. "other people have it worse, so why am i complaining?" so compare to a time when you dealt with "worse" and survived
• emotions: create opposite emotions. if you're anxious, create a calming emotion by using calming strategies/activities (more on calming activities further on in this post) if you're sad, listen to happy music, if youre angry, watch a funny movie.
• push away: while you can't push away the feelings forever, promise yourself you'll deal with it when you have more spoons. then take a nap or use other ACCEPTS strategies or another skill, such as self soothe
• thoughts: think about a time when you were happy. think about your significant other. think about a dog. anything that distracts your mind, such as counting from 50 by twos, or to 100 by threes, counting sheep (hey, it's not just for falling asleep!!)
• sensations: use self soothe

next we have the DBT skill self soothe. 

here is a page about this skill

and here are some ways to use it:P

• vision: draw a picture, look at pictures of cats or dogs or whatever animal you like, watch tv (take care not to watch anything triggering, i know certain shows trigger me)
• hearing: listen to music, watch tv, sing, hum to yourself, listen to sounds here or here
• smell: bake cookies, go to a restaurant just to smell the food, or if food is triggering to you, light a candle or incense, chew gum, etc.
• taste: chew gum, drink water, eat cookies, chew ice, etc
• touch: cuddle a pet, human, or stuffed animal. touch something soft, create something with your hands.

and finally we have some calming activities

listen to jasmine thompson

or ed sheeran

or my playlist here

listen to sounds here 

or here

about and coping with social anxiety

hey everybody, i'm posting today to talk to you all about social anxiety, as requested by a friend. remember, some things that work for you may not work for others, so if you have anything to add, or any input, drop a comment below or shoot me an email at superwholock6661@hotmail.com
without further ado, here is my post

about social anxiety
social anxiety vs shyness

fact sheet

how it develops & risk factors

social anxiety (or regular anxiety) attacks

now that you have an understanding of social anxiety and anxiety attacks, here are some coping skill pages

one

two (also has good info about social anxiety)

three (very good website here)

a forum for social anxiety

tips for work (can also work for school too)

more tips

social anxiety institute

here's a list of my personal coping skills\

1) the 54321 trick. name 5 things you see, 4 you hear, 3 you feel, 2 you smell, and 1 you taste. if you don't currently have these sensations (ie, taste can be hard if you've just drank water or havent eaten recently) create them. (pop some gum, make tea, buy and drink a flavored water or other drink you enjoy, bake cookies for smell, light a candle, etc. there are so many possibilities with this trick)

2) music. i like jasmine thompson and ed sheeran for anxiety. and if you go to this website you can download their music from youtube for free

3) self soothing is a dbt skill for distress tolerance. create a sensation with taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight that calms you. i will make another post right after this about ways to do that.

4) if you go mute when wyou have social anxiety like i do, make sure somebody knows that and is able to assist you in communicating\, whether it be through sign language or writing notes.

5) distract yourself. my next post will also feature this dbt skill