One of my closest friends harms herself. She believes that she isn't very pretty and that the self harm shuts up the little voices telling her that. Is there a better coping mechanism that self harm?

Everytime I had thoughts like this or self harmed. After awhile I learned that there are people out there who could help me stop and medicine that could help me. Talking to someone is very helpful because from personal experience keeping emotions bottled up is not good for you. I thought that people were going to judge me but instead they helped a lot and helped me stop cutting

In my personal life I've found that one of the best things you can do when you feel like life is out of your control, and the only way is to hurt yourself to feel like you're in control, is to talk to others. Let everything you're feeling out and find others who can relate to what you're going through.

Self harm is a rather common but not at all healthy coping mechanism. First of all, if your friends is hearing voices that aren't real as you described then she is experiencing some sort of psychosis and you must convince her to see a doctor as soon as possible, as early treatment for psychosis is absolutely crucial. After she's treated with the meditation the doctor prescribes her (e.g anti-psychotics) , the possible therapy will equip her with some necessary tools to feel better about her self imagine and hopefully no longer have the feeling of need to harm herself anymore.

Hey this is such a difficult situation and I am so sorry that you have to deal with this. There are so many coping mechanisms instead of selfharm! I suppose the thing we need to figure out is why your friend feels as though she needs to self harm. Once we figure this out it should be so much easier to stop these detrimental behaviours. However, in the mean time distraction is a super useful technieque. I would encourage her to engage in another activity which takes her mind off the urge to self harm! Good luck and reach out for help if you need more support

Getting her to talk to someone would be the best way to handle this. She needs a different perspective that will tell her and help her to figure this out and that's why getting professional help would be the best move. It may be tough because she might not want to believe it at first but it is a gradual process that will take time and it's very important and humble if you stick by her throughout this period. Self-harm is a temporary solution that does nothing but harm. You are doing a great job bringing it to your attention and doing something about it.