Brothers and sisters? - Page 2

Samz · 02-12-2007, 10:02 PM

i think my younger sister knows, or at least suspects, but i have never actually sat down and told her.
i don't think my brother has any idea. i would find it really hard to tell them, and to try and explain why. i don't think they'd react well.

deadstar · 03-12-2007, 12:37 AM

My sister knows because my mum started yelling at me about how she knew i was cutting myself, like proper screaming when my sister was in the room next door.
Something im not sure i'll ever forgive her for.
My sister is 13 and although she is mature, she is quite naiive. I always cover my arms all the time except when im on my own or with my girlfriend, even wear a tubigrip when i'm swimming but there was a night on holiday when i got very drunk and i was sharing a room with my sister and i woke up and my arms were showing so she must have seen. She didnt comment but i could tell it had upset her.
Becky xxx

Fee · 03-12-2007, 12:49 AM

its always hard.... my 12 year old brother was bullied because we went to the same school and people found out.... and my 4 year old brother once asked me did i fall in the playground.... i cried my eyes out because he was so upset that i was hurt.... and my sister.... i told my sister too much about it.... so much that she has admitted she has thought about it.... =(

Hannah_x · 03-12-2007, 06:52 PM

My little sister asked me yesterday. She's 10. She just looked at me and went "What happened to your arm?" I told her it was a long story & then a few hours later she said "I really want to hear that story" so I replied "Nevermind". She asked me again a bit later but I just told her to leave it.
EEP.
I really can't bring myself to explain it to her.
x

XxLostxX · 03-12-2007, 07:14 PM

My brother is older hes 18 im 16 and i didnt really tell him he was just sorta around when stuff was going on...

hes been alrite about it i guess. Dont think he really gets it properly but he trys.

Trucktastic · 03-12-2007, 07:15 PM

my twin found out because my Mum figured it out and told her about it - and then posted me a cutting (pardon the pun) from a newspaper about a self-harmer starting a website (not this one).
She asks me about it some times with that annoying condescending way she has - I tell her that I can't very well take a (implement won't mention it) to whoever's annoyed or upset me, could I?
She didn't like that, but hasn't asked me about it since. Well, unless she sees fresh ones on my arms of course.
I wanted to keep it to myself, but my Mum decided to tell her before I even knew she knew.
Lovely.

Lozx

.ghost. · 03-12-2007, 07:31 PM

I had to go to hospital when I ODed and my sister knew (about the OD) because I told my mother in front of her, they told my brother that I was crazy and had anger issues (nice of them wasn't it?).

I wasn't given a choice about whether I wanted my parents to tell my sister (she's 17, was 16 then), they just did, and my sister used t as an excuse to bully me, which my parents allowed her to do as I was told I deserved it.

Not the greatest way for them to find out =/

Daydream · 03-12-2007, 08:40 PM

My mum and my older sister swooped me from school when I was in year 10 (two years ago) and made me pull up my sleeve in front of them because they'd suspected me of cutting myself after my father's sister (who works at the school) heard a rumour I was going to kill myself. Needless to say they found what they were looking for. My sister then went to college and cried her eyes out in the toilets. I felt so guilty.

My younger brother has been told since I went into hospital that I've been really ill, and the reason I've been ill is because there's a chemical missing in my brain that makes me sad sometimes. And the reason for my scars is because I've been ill, and its left at that. Even though the scars are so obviously self inflicted, I dont think that he realises that someone would hurt themselves on purpose. I walk around with short sleeves all the time around the house. I dont think he notices them anymore, which is good =]. Bless him, he's only 10.

mygreysky · 03-12-2007, 08:44 PM

my brother saw a few years back
he is 2 yrs younger than me
he told my mum coz he was worried
he still doesn't understand it now even tho ive pretty much stopped
i try to explain by using how he deals with anger..by hitting things/himself...but he doesnt class it as the same coz he doesnt bleed....

_plastic · 03-12-2007, 10:52 PM

I have not faced any situation where it takes me to explain scars or cuts for my younger siblings , yet !
I hope i won't screw up ...

((hugs everyone ))

Puppet Strings · 03-12-2007, 11:06 PM

I have a twin. She doesn't know.

I have a brother who's 4 years younger than me. He doesn't know.

My sister has a mental age, due to her disabilty and suchlike, of slightly younger than my brother, I think, which makes things even more difficult.
My brother's not stupid when it comes to things like that, and I'm pretty sure he's seen a few cuts & scars from time to time, along with a point in tiem when I walked into his room with scratches all up my arm (I don't normally cut my arms). However, I don't think he would have thought it's self-harm, and he hasn't mentioned anything to anyone.

I am adament that they are not to know.
I am not ready for them to know. For the time being, it's bad enough my parents knowing, and accepting that I am in therapy. Yes, despite the fact that they've known for a while, and I've been in therapy for a while.

I guess they'll find out some day, but I don't want to think about when, and how they might find out, or how I might tell them - I'm not good with that sort of thing. x

Jelly Head · 04-12-2007, 05:02 PM

My brother started working things out when i last OD'd (March time last year) and was taken into hosp. I remember when i got discharged the first thing he said to me was "you scared me" and then cried and hugged me. He was 10 then.
In June this year i was admitted into an adolescent psychiatric unit.
I sat him down and said that he understood how many troubles i'd been having and how that effected my mood/behaviour and because of this i needed some extra help to make me better. I just kind of glamourised it in the sense that he could understand (being younger than i am) like: i won't be gone long and you'll still see me at weekends.
While in hospital, i found out that my mum had actualy told him about my SH, which i was really angry about because it was something i felt he didn't need to know at his age (11 at the time).
I know this still confuses him as to why i do it but it hasn't seemed to have bothered him too much.
Now he knows, our relationship is better for that fact that there are no secrets between us but i still feel there wasn't any need for my mum to tell him.
Sorry this is so long but it's kinda helped me by actualy telling someone. I hope it helps though.
Take care .xx

MeganAlmighty · 04-12-2007, 05:17 PM

My sis is 13.She doesnt realy ask me anything.If she does have any questions, she asks my mom.It sounds kinda harsh but she is used to things the way they are to be honest.She has her own **** going on too anyway.

I suppose it all depends on their age realy
sorry if this is no help.Just wanted to input
Tc x

The Hierophant · 05-12-2007, 02:32 PM

After a year of my mum knwoing she was like,
We need to tell your brother.

So over dinner she told him, he choked on his food, looked at me and was like, "oh ok".

Never spoken about it since, but he's the only one i feel comfortable with seeing my scars and cuts out of my family.

MLE · 05-12-2007, 03:19 PM

I honestly don't know if my sister knows. She's 12. I don't cover up my scars, so, I mean, I know she's seen them, I guess. She's never asked and I go back and forth on whether she knows or not. I'd like to think she doesn't, I guess.

Doesnt_matter · 05-12-2007, 11:54 PM

I hope that it is O.K. that I answer here, although I do not have any siblings...
...but I have younger cousins and two of them with which I am quite close knows about my SI and my depression.

Well, kids knows and understands more than most older people thinks first.
Most kids will start to ask questions after some time because they feel that there is something not going well.
What is very important in my opinion is to avoid graphic description that could terrify and confuse younger kids.

My cousins (9 1/2 and 14 1/2) have asked me questions again and again like "Why do you not laugh that much anymore?" and "Why do you wear arm warmers all the time?", so I decided to tell them something.

I explained to them that I am sad almost all the time and that I am scared often and that I have severe sleeping problems, too.
There reaction was sooo cool "Aren't there any meds against it?"

.
They knows that I go to a doctor and a therapist because of my problems and they find that good because there is someone who helps me.

Well, talking to them about my SI was of course harder.
I told them that I wear arm warmers because I have scars on my arms because I hurt myself sometimes. (I avoided the term "cutting" because that would have scared them, I guess.)

My younger cousin does not understand that someone can do this and is quite confused but she accepts it though.

With my teenage cousin I can talk more about my SIing and she is the person who reacts best about it.
She says to me "I could never do that to myself" and I am of course glad to hear that from her but although she can not fully understand how someone can hurt themself, she accept 100% that I do it and is very cool.
Once she presented me arm warmers which she got from a girls' magazine and that was her way to show me that she accepts my SI

.
She does not even try to convince me to stop SIing, although I guess that she of course do not want to go through stuff like that.

I hope I could encourage some people who are still afraid to tell siblings/ cousins or their kids about their mental problems.

butterfly525 · 06-12-2007, 12:06 AM

My younger sister found out the hard way I guess...when I went into the hospital for an overdose, and the nurses who helped me change into a hospital gown saw my fresh cuts, and told my family (my parents already knew that I had done it before). But she's 16, so I guess that's not too bad. We never talk about it, but she has taken away my tools before. I feel bad that she had to find out and get involved, and I wish she would just forget about it but I know that's not gonna happen.