I've been feeling really down for the past few months now (since January) and I've never actually been happy exept for one time when I got a part in a play.

I have to hold myself together though for my family and friends. It's expected of me. I don't cry, I pretend I'm happy. It works, no one notices a difference. I'm happy and playful on the outside but that's just a shell of what I once was.

I'm sinking lower and lower and I'm finding it harder to hide it from my family. Sometimes, late at night, I just fall apart and crumble. Nothing's going right, something is always going wrong for me. I have pricked myself with a needle (SI?) and that made me feel better, for a little while at least...

I tried to tell my mom and sister that something was wrong but they brushed it off. "We'll monitor it, your just stressed out." This isn't stress.

I have many of the simptoms associated with depression, but my mom won't beleive that I'm depressed, mostly because I hide it from her.

How can I convince her I need help? I want to be happy again.