Many news articles this week reported on the dramatic rise in self-harm as published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal. http://bit.ly/31fqWRb
When thinking about the reasons why, I remembered self-harm statistics in the Oxfordshire JSNA on Mental Health. http://bit.ly/2KAlPVK (page 18). Although Oxfordshire's rates of hospital admissions for self-harm have been significantly lower than England, they are now no longer significantly different. More importantly, the JSNA notes that the rates in Oxford City are significantly higher than Oxfordshire as a whole. This may be due to the presence of areas of deprivation...". And the two wards with the highest rates were the deprived areas of Northfield Brook and Blackbird Leys.
Emma Thomas, CEO of YoungMinds, said childhood poverty, neglect and abuse, exam pressures, bullying using social media and increasing concerns over body image were driving up rates of self-harm.
It would be interesting to analyse the data further. Is the rise occurring across the country due predominantly to the newer problems related to social media? Or is a greater proportion of this rise linked to austerity and deprivation?
One in five young women have self-harmed, study reveals Experts warn of higher suicide rates as self-harm rises across both sexes and all age groups The rate of self-harm among women aged 16-24 has risen dramatically, from 6.5% in 2000 to 19.7% in 2014. The findings, published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, show that self-harm has risen across both sexes and all age groups since 2000. In the population as a whole it almost trebled from 2.4% then to 6.4% in 2014. Jemima Olchawski, the chief executive of Agenda, said physical and sexual abuse were key reasons why so many more women than men were self-harming. Emma Thomas, the chief executive of YoungMinds, said childhood poverty, neglect and abuse, exam pressures, bullying using social media and increasing concerns over body image were driving up rates of self-harm.
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