Self-harm is a term used to span a spectrum of suicidal and non-suicidal behaviour, with a range of underlying motivations (Skegg, 2005; Moran et al, 2024). This notion of a spectrum emphasises the arbitrary distinction between self-harm with and without suicidal intent, given that motivations may be fluid. Both suicide attempt and non-suicidal self-harm are associated with future suicide (Geulayov et al, 2019).
Self-harm is relatively common in adolescence and is practised by approximately 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 young people (Doyle et al, 2015). It is estimated that every year there are approximately 220,000 presentations to British emergency departments by people who have self-harmed (Hawton et al, 2007). Of course, this is only the tip of the clinical iceberg, and the incidence of hospital-presenting non-fatal self-harm in England is much lower than that of community-occurring non-fatal self-harm, at least in adolescents (Geulayov et al, 2018).
There are a range of reasons why people self-harm. It is common, and may help many people cope with unbearable distress, but it also carries substantial risks. The prevalence of non-suicidal self-harm in England appears to be rising, yet 59% do not seek medical or psychological service contact (McManus et al, 2019).
A range of treatments for self-harm have been investigated, yet evidence for their effectiveness remains weak or uncertain due to the relatively small number of trials and the poor methodological quality of some of these studies (Hawton et al, 2016a).
This module will look at national policy towards the management of self-harm in the UK and Republic of Ireland, detail a range of psychosocial interventions used after self-harm and give an overview of treatment effectiveness.
Learning objectives
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- recognise national policy in Britain and the Republic of Ireland for the psychosocial management of self-harm, including the 2022 NICE guideline on the management of self-harm
- list a range of treatment approaches to self-harm
- identify those interventions that have the strongest evidence base from controlled clinical trials.
Availability
This module is available as part of a CPD eLearning subscription.
