Hey i'm new..and need advice.

[alley]

Hi everyone, i'm Alley and I just joined. :)
So really I was looking for a forum where I could ask for advice on what to do.
This seemed good.

So basically I've been scratching on my arms for over half a year. Occasionally drawing blood, but generally not because the things I use are too blunt, as I can't get anything sharper. Does this count as self harm?
I want to stop, and then I don't want to stop. I like how it relieves the pain by bringing about more pain, how it relaxes me. But i'm tired of the stratches up my arm that are red for about 24 hours...They're constantly there due to the fact I do it twice a day. I gave up for about two months at one point but restarted again. It's so addictive.
In some respects I don't think what I am doing is wrong; I have about one scar from all of this, but it's only small and is on one occasion when I went deeper than I ever usually go. Apart from that My arm heals, and then I scratch myself all over again. If it's releasing tension then why is it so wrong? or is this bad attitude? I don't know whether to tell someone or carry on..

Friends at school have noticed, and I just lie my way out of things and nearly always have my sleeves down.

My parents found out about it ages ago, but think i've stopped now. They basically told me I was over-reacting and what I was doing was stupid, but not serious. Is that true? Cause I don't know whether to seek help about this or not if it's not 'serious'...I'm scared people will think I'm over-reacting, like my parents did.

so yeah, i know thats alot of questions but it would be great if someone could answer. thanks :D

[FullyAlive]

welcome to VT :) we are all happy to help

First of all, Yes what you're doing is self harm, anything that causes visible and intentional harm to the body is self harm. What you are doing is a deliberate act of harming yourself therefore it's self harm. Also if it leaves a mark over an hour then it counts (don't hold me to that it's just what I've heard).

Secondly it is serious, the amount of damage you are doing to yourself doesn't necessarily reflect how much emotional pain you are in. And you're right you should aim to stop, however as you aren't causing a lot of harm atm it's not too pressing, instead you can take time to work out what causes you to feel this way, and discover the underlying problems you may have. It'll be a lot easier to do this now than once the self harm has gotten any worse.

I think you should consider talking to your parents again ask if you can see a counsellor or someone? Or possibly talk to a school counsellor?

[Fiction]

Hey, Welcome to VT :)

Scratching is a form of self harm, and is in fact the way that many cutters started off.

The fact that you are obviously addicted to it as well shows that it is a problem. Although you say it's only scratching and it's not that serious the thing with addictive behaviours is that they often get worse. You need to go deeper, or do more cuts to get the same effect again, and over time it becomes deeper and more dangerous. What i'm saying is it may just be scratches now, but it won't neccasarily always be that way.

Seeking help may be a good idea before it gets worse. It'll be much easier to stop now than later, and you'll also escape with a lot less scars and reminders that could be with you for life.

[Spook]

First of all, welcome to VT. :D

From what you have told us, what you are doing does sound like self harm. If you are hurting yourself just for the reason of relieving tension or pain, then it definately is. It is serious as well. I think any form of self harm is serious. i think you should talk to your parents about it, explain it. Exactly what drives you to scratch yourself? Is it a habit, or is it that you are depressed?

[alley]

thankyou everyone for the welcome and the advice, I feel like i have somewhere to go and people to talk too, if nesscessary. :)

i have decided i might confide in a close friend and then go on to tell my parents, hopefully they'll understand this time