One in 12 people self-harm in their teenage years, a long-term Australian study has found. For most people the problem will resolve before adulthood but for 10 percent it will continue into their adult lives. Teenage girls are more likely to self-harm than boys. The Lancet study looked at almost 2,000 adolescents in Australia, repeatedly surveying them over a period of 15 years. Researchers found that anxiety, depression, heavy alcohol use, cigarette smoking and cannabis use were all connected to self-harm. Self-cutting and burning were the commonest forms of self-harm during adolescence, said researchers. Reassuringly, 90 percent of teenagers who self-harmed stopped before they reached adulthood. However, Marjorie Wallace, Chief Executive of the mental health charity SANE, said “The figures showing that 90% have stopped by the time they reach their twenties should not seduce us into thinking that self harm is just a phase that young people will grow out of.” The research shows that counter to common perception, people self-harm and continue to self-harm throughout their lives. The association between self-harm and suicide, researchers suggest is “important and hitherto unrecognised component” of preventing suicide in adults. “Self-harm is one of the most significant predictors of completed suicide,” said Dr Paul Moran of King's College London. Professor Keith Hawton, Director of the Centre for Suicide Research, University of Oxford says those who have died by suicide, around 50-60 percent have a known history of self-harm. It is unclear as of yet how many people who have self-harmed die due to suicide. BM
