text: how do you help a friend who is cutting her arm to relieve stress? i have a friend who suffers from anxiety, stress, and depression. nothing seems to be going right or helping. she has eating issues and everyone is worried. to releave her stress she has resulted back to cutting her arms. i know she won't really cut her wrists as a suicide attempt. but i hate seeing her suffer though, and i don't know how to make her stop cutting. she needs other options. make sure she has clean blades and wipes her arm down with alcohol first. you don't want her getting an infection.