User blog:Sparrowsong/Is this serious?

Hey, guys:

I'm in a bad situation and I could use some advice from someone my age.

As you probably know, I'm extremely sad and stressed-out; I think I'm emotionally disturbed. I used to self-harm by scratching with just my nails, which I never told anybody about, but I stopped by myself before it got bad.

Well, lately I've started to self-harm again. I'll lift up my shirt (so that people won't see the scratches), take the sharpest pair of scissors I can find, and scratch as hard as I can stand. I know it's wrong, but it's actually relaxing.

I've never bled or anything. At the worst, I've just had scratches that take half a week to go away.

Do you think this is serious?

There is no way I could possibly go to a shrink or something, my parents would find out for sure, and that is absolutely the last thing I want. I wrote to Kids Help Phone and they haven't responded yet.

What should I do? Any advice?

-Song