Sib

[joeylittle]

All my medical providers can see it, so now my dentist or optometrist will see SIB. It is what it is. I don't regret telling how bad it has gotten so now we can address it. I hate that I do it and would really like to stop.

First off - don't lose sight of the main thing, which is that you were able to admit how bad it got, and you want to stop.

That, all by itself, is a huge victory.

You can isolate your diagnoses on your paperwork; it takes extra effort when they are all coming through the same system (as it sounds like you are) - you need to get through to the central administration dept and tell them what you want. Sometimes it takes a lot of looking just to figure out who to speak with. But it can be done.

I'd also say, though - it might be an opportunity to work on the shame you are feeling. I say that carefully, because I would hate for you hear the suggestion as criticism. But there are so many positives to confronting the behavior, and perhaps they can help erase some of the shame around it that you've been holding onto?

 

[joeylittle]

I think adding a symptom as a disorder is flawed. But thats my opinion.

I hear you, but it's a much broader condition than you are understanding it to be. This is a nice, concise article: http://www.theravive.com/therapedia/Nonsuicidal-Self--Injury-DSM--5

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) refers to any premeditated, self-directed actions that leads to direct damage of body tissues (Kerr, Muehlenkamp, & Turner, 2010)This action is often marked in an array of ways, like hitting or punching an object to inflict injury to self, cutting, extreme scratching, skin carving, and interference with wound healing and burning. NSSI may even entail even more destructive actions like breaking bone, injury to limbs, eye injury or auto-amputation.

So while yes, it's primarily been thought of as a symptom of borderline pd, it's been it's own problem for other neurological conditions (most notably, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities - IDD), and since the 80s there has been a movement to identify it in the DSM as it's own disorder, as opposed to a behavior.

https://capmh.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13034-015-0062-7

Shaffer and Jacobson (2009) pinpointed several reasons in their rationale for reclassifying NSSI [in the DSM]: NSSI is associated with clinical and functional impairment; the classification of NSSI solely as a symptom of BPD is inconsistent with recent evidence; NSSI needs to be separated from suicide attempts; studying NSSI purely within a BPD context or as a manifestation of suicidality will hamper research and treatment of NSSI; a standardized definition of clinically significant NSSI would facilitate comparisons of findings from different studies and improve communication and clarity in clinical care...NSSI is also associated with other personality disorders, and to several axis I symptomatologies, and may also be present without any psychiatric comorbidities.

(bolding is mine for emphasis).

At the least, it warrants further study, and won't be studied if it doesn't begin to be recognized on it's own.

I also think, like all things, giving them their proper due helps eventually shift the stigma, which helps people seek out intervention and treatment. That's my bias.

 

[Canotia]

I would never change my therapist. It took a year for me to trust her, no way would I start over. I think I will consider going outside the VA for medical care, if it means getting care I need. I will say the VA has treated me very well. I just don't like how everyone can see my most private issues. I am ashamed, no doubt. I have a lot of shame and guilt. It's a never ending cycle. I'm working on it.

Thank you all for the information and support. I have few friends and I don't share my problems.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I would never change my therapist. It took a year for me to trust her, no way would I start over.

Im sorry. Apparently I didn't realize what I was asking you to do. I feel the same about my therapist and I get that shame. Good god id die if my medical doctors could see the intimate details ive told my therapist. I think that is why i did confide in him so much. Because no one but him and my PDoc can see it and I struggle with the PDoc being able to see it so its the elephant in the room we just dont talk about.

Though, my therapist once told me details aren't written but rather a very not detailed discription of the issue. And not writting 100% of the time. So it may not be very detailed info they are seeing.