Abstract
Self-harm is defined as any act of self-injury or self-poisoning regardless of intent. Suicidality includes suicidal self-harm as well as suicidal thoughts and plans. Self-harm is common, with 10–20% of young people reporting having harmed themselves before the age of 18. Self-harm is by no means always an act with suicidal intent, and the relationship between these two phenomena is complex. However, self-harm is the strongest single risk factor for completed suicide which is the second most common cause of death in young people aged 10–24. This chapter provides a short summary of self-harm and suicidality in young people and its prevalence and risk factors, prevention, assessment, and management. Links to additional material are also provided.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Aggarwal S, Patton G, Reavley N, Sreenivasan SA, Berk M (2017) Youth self-harm in low- and middle-income countries: systematic review of the risk and protective factors. Int J Soc Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764017700175
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). American Psychiatric Association, Arlington, VA
Asarnow JR, Mehlum L (2019) Practitioner Review: Treatment for suicidal and self-harming adolescents - advances in suicide prevention care. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 60(10):1046–1054. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13130
Aseltine RH, DeMartino R (2004) An outcome evaluation of the SOS Suicide Prevention Program. Am J Public Health 94(3):446–451. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.94.3.446
Beckman K, Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Waern M, Larsson H, Runeson B, Dahlin M (2018) Method of self-harm in adolescents and young adults and risk of subsequent suicide. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 59(9):948–956. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12883
Bridge JA, Goldstein TR, Brent DA (2006) Adolescent suicide and suicidal behavior. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 47(3–4):372–394. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01615.x
CDC (2007) Suicide trends among youths and young adults aged 10–24 years – United States, 1990–2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 56(35):905–908
Chung D, Ryan C, Hadzi-Pavlovic D, Singh S, Stanton C, Large M (2017) Suicide rates after discharge from psychiatric facilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiat 74(7):694–702. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.1044
Evans E, Hawton K, Rodham K (2004) Factors associated with suicidal phenomena in adolescents: a systematic review of population-based studies. Clin Psychol Rev 24(8):957–979. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2004.04.005
Ford T, Hamilton H, Meltzer H, Goodman R (2006) Child Mental Health is everybody’s business: the prevalence of contact with public sector services by type of disorder among British school children in a three-year period. Child Adolesc Mental Health 12(1):13–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-3588.2006.00414.x
Geulayov G, Casey D, McDonald KC, Foster P, Pritchard K, Wells C, … Hawton K (2018) Incidence of suicide, hospital-presenting non-fatal self-harm, and community-occurring non-fatal self-harm in adolescents in England (the iceberg model of self-harm): a retrospective study. Lancet Psychiatry 5(2):167–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30478-9
Grandclerc S, De Labrouhe D, Spodenkiewicz M, Lachal J, Moro M-R (2016) Relations between nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidal behavior in adolescence: a systematic review. PLoS One 11(4):e0153760. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153760
Gunnell D, Eddleston M (2003) Suicide by intentional ingestion of pesticides: a continuing tragedy in developing countries. Int J Epidemiol 32(6):902–909
Harkess-Murphy E, Macdonald J, Ramsay J (2013) Self-harm and psychosocial characteristics of looked after and looked after and accommodated young people. Psychol Health Med 18(3):289–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2012.712706
Hawton K, Hall S, Simkin S, Bale L, Bond A, Codd S, Stewart A (2003) Deliberate self-harm in adolescents: a study of characteristics and trends in Oxford, 1990–2000. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 44(8):1191–1198
Hawton K, Saunders KE, O’Connor RC (2012) Self-harm and suicide in adolescents. Lancet 379(9834):2373–2382. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60322-5
Hawton K, Witt K, Taylor Salisbury T, Arensman E, Gunnell D, Hazell P, … van Heeringen K (2015a) Pharmacological interventions for self-harm in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev(7):Cd011777. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd011777
Hawton K, Witt K, Taylor Salisbury T, Arensman E, Gunnell D, Townsend E, … Hazell P (2015b) Interventions for self-harm in children and adolescents. Cochrane Database Syst Rev(12):Cd012013. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd012013
Lim M, Lee SU, Park J-I (2014) Difference in suicide methods used between suicide attempters and suicide completers. Int J Ment Heal Syst 8(1):54. https://doi.org/10.1186/1752-4458-8-54
Madge N, Hewitt A, Hawton K, de Wilde EJ, Corcoran P, Fekete S, … Ystgaard M (2008) Deliberate self-harm within an international community sample of young people: comparative findings from the Child & Adolescent Self-harm in Europe (CASE) Study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 49(6):667–677. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01879.x
Marchant A, Hawton K, Stewart A, Montgomery P, Singaravelu V, Lloyd K, … John A (2017) A systematic review of the relationship between internet use, self-harm and suicidal behaviour in young people: the good, the bad and the unknown. PLoS One 12(8):e0181722. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181722
Mathias CW, Furr RM, Sheftall AH, Hill-Kapturczak N, Crum P, Dougherty DM (2012) What’s the harm in asking about suicidal ideation? Suicide Life Threat Behav 42(3):341–351. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1943-278X.2012.0095.x
Minshawi NF, Hurwitz S, Fodstad JC, Biebl S, Morriss DH, McDougle CJ (2014) The association between self-injurious behaviors and autism spectrum disorders. Psychol Res Behav Manag 7:125–136. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S44635
Moran P, Coffey C, Romaniuk H, Olsson C, Borschmann R, Carlin JB, Patton GC (2012) The natural history of self-harm from adolescence to young adulthood: a population-based cohort study. Lancet 379(9812):236–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61141-0
Muehlenkamp JJ, Claes L, Havertape L, Plener PL (2012) International prevalence of adolescent non-suicidal self-injury and deliberate self-harm. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 6(1):10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-2000-6-10
National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (2004) National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence: guidance self-harm: the short-term physical and psychological management and secondary prevention of self-harm in primary and secondary care. The British Psychological Society & The Royal College of Psychiatrists, Leicester
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2011) Self-harm in over 8s: long-term management. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg133
NHS Digital (2018) Mental health of children and young people in England, 2017. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england
Nock MK (2010) Self-injury. Annu Rev Clin Psychol 6:339–363. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131258
Nock M, Wedig M, Janis I, Deliberto T (2008) Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. In: Hunsely J, Mash E (eds) A guide to assessments that work. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 158–177
Ougrin D, Tranah T, Stahl D, Moran P, Asarnow JR (2015) Therapeutic interventions for suicide attempts and self-harm in adolescents: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 54(2):97–107.e102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2014.10.009
Ougrin D, Corrigall R, Poole J, Zundel T, Sarhane M, Slater V, … Taylor E (2018) Comparison of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an intensive community supported discharge service versus treatment as usual for adolescents with psychiatric emergencies: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Psychiatry 5(6):477–485. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30129-9
Patton GC, Coffey C, Sawyer SM, Viner RM, Haller DM, Bose K, … Mathers CD (2009) Global patterns of mortality in young people: a systematic analysis of population health data. Lancet 374(9693):881–892. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(09)60741-8
Posner K, Melvin GA, Stanley B, Oquendo MA, Gould M (2007) Factors in the assessment of suicidality in youth. CNS Spectr 12(2):156–162
Rodham K, Hawton K, Evans E (2004) Reasons for deliberate self-harm: comparison of self-poisoners and self-cutters in a community sample of adolescents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 43(1):80–87. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200401000-00017
Russell ST, Fish JN (2016) Mental health in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. Annu Rev Clin Psychol 12(1):465–487. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093153
Sansone RA, Levitt JL (2002) Self-harm behaviors among those with eating disorders: an overview. Eat Disord 10(3):205–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/10640260290081786
Sarchiapone M, Mandelli L, Iosue M, Andrisano C, Roy A (2011) Controlling access to suicide means. Int J Environ Res Public Health 8(12):4550–4562. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph8124550
Steele M, Doey T (2007) Suicidal behaviour in children and adolescents. Part 1. Etiology and risk factors. Can J Psychiatry 52(6 Suppl 1):21S–33S
Wasserman D, Hoven CW, Wasserman C, Wall M, Eisenberg R, Hadlaczky G, … Carli V (2015) School-based suicide prevention programmes: the SEYLE cluster-randomised, controlled trial. Lancet 385(9977):1536–1544. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61213-7
Yoshioka E, Hanley SJB, Kawanishi Y, Saijo Y (2018) Epidemic of charcoal burning suicide in Japan. Br J Psychiatry 204(4):274–282. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.113.135392
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Epstein, S., Ougrin, D. (2020). Self-Harm and Suicidality in Children and Adolescents. In: Taylor, E., Verhulst, F., Wong, J., Yoshida, K., Nikapota, A. (eds) Mental Health and Illness of Children and Adolescents. Mental Health and Illness Worldwide. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0753-8_45-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0753-8_45-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0753-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0753-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences