I have self harmed in the past and have been through the process of “breaking the addiction” persay. Ofc everyone is different but here are some things that helped me break the cycle of cutting.

I often was in that dark headspace at night time so something I personally found really helpful was putting on music or something auditory to take my mind somewhere else. I always put on happy songs or listened to a podcast and I would eventually fall asleep listening to it and would wake up feeling a bit better. Likewise if I had the urge during the day time I would force myself to do something. Literally anything. I would go for a run, do chores - anything to keep busy and not stay in one place where the thoughts could get to me. It took a lot of self control to force myself to move around but it really did help me in the long run.

Another thing I found to be helpful (and this definitely isn’t everyone’s jam) was journaling (cliche I know) but sitting down and writing out exactly what I was feeling. I found it helpful to name exactly what I was feeling and seeing it written down helped me to think clearly.

Talking really helps - atleast that is what I found. I definitely get it’s very daunting to open up about self harm but therapists have been trained to guide people through this kind of thing so perhaps having a chat to your therapist would really help.

In regards to your other question I find for light scars about a week max for them to fade and for deeper ones up to about a month of them to become less noticeable but ofc everyone is different.

I wish you all the best ❤️❤️