To date, research on the role of the Internet in self-harm has focused on young people's interaction via the medium of text, with limited consideration of the effect of images. This qualitative study explores how young people understand and use online images of self-harm. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a community sample of 21 individuals aged 16-24 living in Wales, UK, with a p...

BACKGROUND Self-harm is prevalent in adolescence. It is often a behaviour without verbal expression, seeking relief from a distressed state of mind. As most adolescents who self-harm do not seek help, the nature of adolescent self-harm and reasons for not disclosing it are a public health concern. This study aims to increase understanding about how adolescents in the community speak about self-...

OBJECTIVE This study evaluated rates of self-harm and substance use in women with either bulimia nervosa (BN) or binge eating disorder (BED) and assessed whether differences in self-harm and substance use are related to sexual or physical abuse. METHOD Alcohol abuse, self-harm, and use or abuse of various illicit drugs were evaluated in a sample of 53 women with BN and 162 women with BED. R...

In this survey of early Norwegian school adolescents, the prevalence, course, and incidence of self-harm behavior with or without suicide intent were examined, in addition to predictors of self-harm for a 1-year follow-up period. Lifetime prevalence rates of self-harm without suicide intent and suicide attempts were 2.9% and 3.0%, respectively, while 1-year incidence rates were 3.6% and 1.7%, r...

BACKGROUND Self-harm is associated with a high risk of suicide. It is unclear whether suicidal intent at the time of self-harm is a risk factor for future suicidal behaviour. AIMS To investigate the relationship between suicidal intent and patient characteristics, repetition of self-harm, and suicide. METHOD Clinical and demographic data on 4415 patients presenting to hospital following sel...

BACKGROUND Although suicide has been postulated as a result of social breakdown, relatively little attention has been paid to the association between social relationships and non-fatal self-harm. We sought to investigate the extent to which social factors correlate with self-harm in this case-control study. METHODS The primary outcome was self-harm with hospital presentation. Cases of self-ha...

Background Alcohol is often involved in hospital-treated self-harm. Therefore it is important to establish the role of alcohol in self-harm as well as to identify associated factors, in order to best inform service provision. Methods Data on self-harm presentations to hospital emergency departments in Ireland and Northern Ireland from April 2012 to December 2013 were analysed. We calculated t...

BACKGROUND Self-harm is an extremely common reason for hospital presentation. However, few estimates have been made of the hospital costs of assessing and treating self-harm. Such information is essential for planning services and to help strengthen the case for investment in actions to reduce the frequency and effects of self-harm. In this study, we aimed to calculate the costs of hospital med...

BACKGROUND To investigate the prevalence of self-harm in young adolescents and factors associated with onset and continuity over a one year period. METHOD Prospective longitudinal study. Participants were young adolescents (n = 3964) aged 12-16 years attending 8 secondary schools in the Midlands and South West of England. RESULTS Over a one year period 27% of young adolescents reported thou...