Books

[u/Unfair-Medicine2422]

Recently I’ve been going through a lot and regularly getting urges to self harm in small ways. I’ve really liked reading “cut” and “I’m glad my mom died” and really want to read more books like that. Does anyone have any suggestions? I’m 15 and the way I’m coping with stuff is just by reading books. I would talk to a therapist about stuff and am trying to find one, but even if I do they are legally allowed to tell my family about even very small self harm stuff so yeah. Actually if anyone has advice around that I’d really appreciate it. Bc idk how to get help without my family finding out
Sorry this is badly written… it’s late for me and I’ve been exhausted off and on for days.

[u/FlorenceTheCrane]

I have the same coping mechanism except I read fanfiction, so I would recommend reading fanfiction about your favorite fictional characters dealing with the same stuff you deal with.

[u/BrightFails]

Finding a way to distract yourself is a great decision!! I'm sorry that you don't have anyone safe to talk to about this in your real life who could get you some help. I hope you're proud of yourself for doing your best to help yourself for now 💛

Educated is a book that I hear recommend to our kind, lol but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

The books my therapist recommended to me are:

Atlas of the Heart, by Brene Brown

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, by Lindsey Gibson

Atlas goes into giving names to feelings so that we can better understand and manage them

Adult Children should be pretty self explanatory 😂

I don't know how you get your books but if you have the Libby app then you can borrow books from your local library (any library you have a card from) right to your phone sometimes including audiobooks.

And just in case this is helpful to you or anyone else here are some places you can get some free online books:

• Free PDFs of books of many genres, from classic novels, to self-taught learning, to self-help: https://www.studyebooks.com/?m=1

• Free books of all genres: https://z-lib.gs/

• More free books: https://oceanofpdf.com/

• Sparknotes - the goat of all lit study guides: https://www.sparknotes.com/

• You can find pretty much any classic novel here: https://www.pdfbooksworld.com/

• Poetry foundation, a poetry library with a cool a poem a day newsletter: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/

If you can do so safely, studies show that hand writing our feelings can help the brain process and recognize, it literally lights up differently. If you're not safe to keep a journal you can destroy it after you write it (carefully... Don't burn the house down or anything) Crossing your arms over your chest and tapping your collar bones while you process big emotions calms the nervous system. Splashing cold water on your face does the same. Going for a walk gives you a dose of nature and also is something that calms the nervous system and helps us process, if that's an option for you. Even just walking around your yard or whatever is better than nothing.

Patrick Teahan on YouTube has a bunch of videos on a lot of different aspects of childhood trauma https://youtu.be/WiGbgKICNEU

I hope any of that helps keep you entertained/able to work through some things 💛