Overview
Squeezing Ice Cubes can be used as a grounding tool to better manage urges of self-harm or suicidal thoughts.
Requirements
Make sure you have lots of ice cubes ready to go.
Don’t perform this strategy if you have any hand injuries or are sensitive to sudden changes to temperature. If you’re unsure, ask a health professional.
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How to
Take a bunch of ice cubes and ideally hold them in both hands over a sink.
Simply squeeze the ice cubes in your hands as hard as you can, for up to a minute.
This can cause a great deal of discomfort, shock and pain.
This discomfort triggers the ‘fight or flight’ in our brains, similar to self-damaging behaviour, meaning you have fulfilled some of that previous ‘urge’ you had. This will hopefully reduce your chances of self-harming in the coming moments.
Afterwards, discard the rest of the unmelted ice cubes into the sink and gently dry your hands with a soft towel. Then move on and do something you enjoy like getting involved with an activity or watch some telly.
Additional
Most people struggle to squeeze ice cubes as hard as they can for up to 30 seconds. However, those who are in distress usually find up to 1 minute manageable.
Only squeeze ice cubes up to 2 minutes a round, up to 5 times an hour – then stop and move onto a different coping strategy.
Ideally, the level of shock from this technique should fulfill some of those negative tendencies and you can safely move on with your day.
We suggest doing a physical activity afterwards like sport or housework to burn off any excess energy you may have built up during this technique.