Posted by Dinah on October 8, 2001, at 23:38:18
In reply to Re: Bipolar Disorder without Mania » Wendy B., posted by tina on October 8, 2001, at 21:00:14
Hi tina,
I hope I'm not being presumptuous to suggest the web site www.selfharm.com to you. It has a lot of good links to useful information, such as tips on minimizing damage and a list of rights and affirmations for women who self harm that you might want to read before seeing your new doctor. There is also an awful lot of self help books out there for self injurers. Try a search at Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I particularly recommend the memoir "Skin Game" by Caroline Kettlewell, or the books by Steven Levenkron, but that's probably just because they resonate most with me. There are lots of other good books out there, too.
In my experience, many mental health professionals have a problem with appropriately dealing with this issue. Some completely overreact, and since I am not a dramatic person, that just really turns me off. Some seem to feel that responding in any way to information about self harm will reinforce the behavior, so they won't even mention it. That can be quite disconcerting. The best of them listen, try to understand, and help with options to reduce the level of harm and to come up with alternatives. I can assure you that however they act, they all see it as a problem, even if the level of self injury is very minor, as in my case.
poster:Dinah
thread:11562
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20011006/msgs/12271.html