How Can You Handle a Self-Harm Relapse?

Recovering from self-injury can put a lot of pressure on us and often includes a self-harm relapse or two. We expect that self-harm recovery will be a simple process with no obstacles on the road. However, it’s a complicated journey, and there is no one perfect way to recover. You might stumble once or twice, but that’s okay. You can still continue where you left off.

I Self-Harm Relapsed, Now What?

It’s easy to think that by relapsing into self-harm, you’ve failed. But you cannot fail in recovery. It takes time to build good habits, so it’s perfectly natural to fall back into bad ones along the way. Don’t let that stop you. Treat it as a lesson, and identify the triggers that made you self-harm. Continue to develop distractions and healthy coping mechanisms. Your effort thus far still counts.

In this video, I talk about my recent relapse and how I decided to learn from it. I refuse to treat it as a failure, and you should, too. How do you deal with self-harm relapse? Let me know in the comments.