Can You Cure Self-Harm?

Many of us dream of the day we are completely self-harm free. But does such a thing as a self-harm cure exist?

What Would a Self-Harm Cure Look Like?

I know what I imagine when I see the words "self-harm cure."

I think of something relatively quick and easy—a medication you can take, for a limited time, that will eventually render you immune to your self-harm urges. It could instead be a technique that, after you practice it a set number of times, will guarantee you never want to hurt yourself again. It's something that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, will end your struggle with self-harm—and all its messy complications—once and for all. It would be quick, painless, and cheap in an ideal world.

Sounds too good to be true, right? That's because it is.

You Can't Cure Self-Harm, But Healing Is Possible

There is no such thing as a permanent, guaranteed cure for self-harm. I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you otherwise.

But I can tell you this—it is possible to heal. It is possible to grow beyond the need to hurt yourself to cope. It is possible to find new, better ways to survive—and, eventually, thrive.

A cure implies something you do once or a limited number of times to end a thing and prevent it from ever happening again. In my experience, that just doesn't happen with self-harm.

But you absolutely can find some tools and techniques you can use to gradually lessen the impact of your triggers and cravings on your life. And you can break free of self-harm. It's not something that happens overnight, but one day, you'll wake up and think, hey, I can get through today without hurting myself. And you do.

And then you do it again, and again, and again. That's how it happened for me, anyway. And it can happen for you, too—once you take that first vital step away from self-injury and towards self-healing.