I honestly believe you need to talk to someone about this.  Find someone you can trust (a teacher, a family member, a pastor) and just be honest about what is going on.  Do not hide anything, that doesn't help.  Cutting is very serious.  My heart definitly goes out to you and I wonder why you feel such a strong need to hurt yourself.  Who has hurt you?  Please find someone to talk to.  My daughter used to cut herself.  I didn't understand why, but we talked and talked about it.  We got her some help.  She still struggles, but she is at least able to overcome the battle with cutting.  We lifted her up in prayer and put her in God's hands. We will do the same for you.

Hi there,

I'm so sorry to hear that you feel this way. You have taken a great first step by reaching out for help, and I am proud of you for that. However, an online community cannot provide all of the support you need. Here are a few things you can and should do to get the help that you deserve:

-Call a National Suicide Hotline (it's free, confidential, and 24/7): 1-800-DONT-CUT
-Talk to a trusted adult (teacher, counselor, parent, etc.) They will help you find support, and get you to a therapist or trained professional.
-If you ever feel that your life is in immediate danger, call 911 immediately.

My heart goes out to you, and I wish you the very best. Please get help from an adult as soon as possible.

Judy
Community Team

I am sorry you are having to go through this, but know it's a semi-normal thing many kids experience, so there are lots of people who can help.
I understand the urge, while I never actually cut myself, the urge was there most of high school. I chose to write short stories, poetry and such to get out my pain. That may or may not work for you.

But not talking about it won't make it better, the feelings you are trying to address by cutting need to be talked out. With someone, anyone you can trust.

Also, while I usually feel that you should talk to your parents, your dad's previous reactions sounds like that might not be best until you get a little further down the road. So an anonymous hotline might be best for you until you are read for a candid conversation with your folks.

As a counselor, parent and someone that has experienced the same issues I would like to help in some way.  Just by your message I can tell that you probably do not have parents that understand and especially if your father's response was to just yell at you then this means you have no support system.  For someone that is in pain whether it is emotional or physical it is so important to have a support system.  I know that you stated you started this in the 6th grade which tells me that things were bad for you at an early age and even though you did not state how old you are now it is important that you understand it is great to have a good friend but with a situation like this it is not best for them to be your total support system.  If you fear going to the counselor at school because they are going to tell your parents then please gain the courage to stand up for yourself and tell the counselor that you are afraid of what your parents are going to do and also that they do not know how to communicate properly and also that they have no idea how to be your support system.  If this counselor still cannot help with this information then it is time to look for someone else.  Remember that this counselor is there to help you and not to blame you and remember that also with your parents.  Most people that I talk with, I ask them to read a book called "Toxic Parents" and this is not to blame your parents for your problems but to be aware that you probably do the things that you do because of the way you were raised and when you have that understanding it makes everything else easier to understand.  Also, you need to realize that this problem is going to take work on your part.  What you are doing is called self medicating and what that means is when things are painful for you then you think that this is going to take away the pain when in reality, you are only making things worse by not finding the cause of the problem.  Finding the cause of the problem and fixing that will help you to see why you are in pain and learn how to deal with that pain in a healthy manner. I used to counsel people on the internet for free and I would love to help in any way that I can.  There is a note here that states to not give out any personal information but if you would like to get in touch with me maybe you can send back a message or like I mentioned I used to have a website under the name LifeReBuilders but no longer and only have email through AOL.  So if you need help just put the two together and I hope this has helped in someway.

I am in the same situation everyone at my school knows I'm afraid they'll tell and that the teachers will ring my parents and my parents I know they won't understand me they'll take everything of me and ground me forever Iwant Help but I don't know where to get it