By Katherine Brown. Support: “to give or be ready to give help to somebody if they need it”. Few would argue against the idea that those who self-harm should be given support to overcome distress and cope in more adaptive ways. But with studies suggesting that approximately half of those who self-harm do not receive… Continue reading What support is really there for those who self-harm?
By Katerina Kavalidou and Alessio Albanese. The United Nations’s refugee agency (UNHCR) has recently published an annual Global Trends Report showing that currently, nearly 79.5 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide. Whilst the majority are internally displaced (around 46 million), 26 million are refugees and 4.2 million are asylum seekers [1]. Though often discussed together,… Continue reading Self-harm and suicide among asylum seekers and refugees: A call to researchers
By Julie Janssens. “I don’t want you to include my parents in therapy!” “I hate them!” “They don’t love me…” “They will not understand what I am going through.” “They have enough on their plate already. I don’t want to burden them with my problems.” “It is like there is a huge skyscraper between us.”… Continue reading The importance of attachment in treating and investigating self-harm
By John F. Gunn III. I have always had an interest in theoretical perspectives of suicide – so much so that I convinced David Lester to edit a book on the topic with me [1]. I even attempted my own supposition on a theoretical framework some years ago [2]. However, as I developed as a… Continue reading Suicide in Context: How Bioecological Theory Could Advance Theories of Suicide
By Jessica Leather. Psychological science has been at the centre of many people’s minds since the COVID-19 pandemic began, especially those in search of effective public health messaging and coping strategies. Recently an expert panel in psychological science highlighted mental health as a research priority, due to the shifting social conditions and economic instability resulting… Continue reading Applying Behavioural Science to Self-harm Prevention
By Hilary Norman. “We often tell people to “ask for help” to “reach out”, to “share,” but there is a paradox at play here. It’s often when you’re struggling the most that you are least able to articulate what it is you are feeling and what you need.” @white_owly It’s not always easy to put… Continue reading When you don’t have the words…
By Cheryl Hunter. Have you ever spoken to someone who lived with ongoing suicidal thoughts and feelings? How would you know for sure that you haven’t? According to a community survey, one in five people experience suicidal thoughts at some point in their lifetime, and one in fifteen people act to end their own lives.… Continue reading “The burden of telling”: how our responses can silence people who live with suicidal thoughts, feelings and acts
By Abigail Paterson. I recently completed the data collection for the first study in my PhD and when I did, I realised that this also signalled the end of my first study which asked participants about their self-harm behaviour. It was two big milestones for me in my PhD and before I begin data analysis… Continue reading Reflecting on asking about self-harm for the first time
By Kai Lim The arrival of the genomics revolution is changing many aspects of the world, including the study of psychiatry and mental health [1]. As the cost of genotyping declines over time, more people can be recruited in genomics studies, and we will be able to understand more about the genetic risks for different… Continue reading How can genetics help us understand self-harm?
By Olivia Kirtley The lab and questionnaire-based nature of much self-harm and suicide research means that we often only have access to snapshots of participants’ experiences and behaviours. Furthermore, the chronic lack of prospective and longitudinal research in the field means we know very little about how behaviours and experiences change over time. Most often,… Continue reading Out of the lab and into everyday life: Using Experience Sampling Methods to better understand self-harm and suicide
By Elystan Roberts Everyone who has ridden the rollercoaster of pubertal development knows just how difficult it can be. Between the ages of 10 and 20, our bodies and brains undergo some of the most substantial changes of our lives. Alongside managing huge fluctuations in circulating sex hormones and fundamental neurocognitive change, we face new… Continue reading Is there an association between pubertal timing and self-harm?
On Wednesday, 28th August 2019 we had our monthly online journal club session and we discussed the paper “These Things Don’t Work.” Young People’s Views on Harm Minimization Strategies as a Proxy for Self-Harm: A Mixed Methods Approachethics” by Ruth Wadman, Emma Nielsen, Linda O’Raw, Katherine Brown, A. Jess Williams, Kapil Sayal & Ellen Townsend.… Continue reading “These Things Don’t Work.” Young People’s Views on Harm Minimization Strategies as a Proxy for Self Harm
By Katherine Brown Harm minimisation and self-harm ‘Harm minimisation’ approaches aim to reduce the damage that happens when someone engages in behaviour that could negatively affect their health [1]. Although the approach has its origins in the field of substance misuse [2], it has since been used in other areas - including the treatment of… Continue reading Do Harm Minimisation Techniques Really Help Young People Who Self-harm?
On Wednesday 27th March at 12pm (GMT) we held our monthly online journal club session to discuss a recent systematic review, which focused on “Self-harm in older adults: systematic review” led by our netECR member, M. Isabela Troya and colleagues . Here are some notes from thoughts shared in our discussion, kindly summarised by Donna… Continue reading Self-harm in older adults: systematic review
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Big data and suicide and self-harm prevention Professor Ann John, Swansea University. Prof John talked about the potential and challenges of using big data and routine records in suicide and self-harm research. In particular she highlighted the SAIL databank which provides data linkage to a number of datasets across… Continue reading Session 6: Data Hubs and Platforms
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Financial difficulty and suicide: data from frontline staff in commercial debt collection firms Dr Chris Fitch & Jamie Evans, Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol. Dr Fitch’s ‘non-health’ angle focused on the presentation of suicidality to the frontline staff of commercial debt collection firms. They found that a… Continue reading Session 5: High Risk Groups
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Hospital and community presentations for self-harm: linking across datasets Prof Nav Kapur, University of Manchester. Prof Kapur focused on the importance of data linkage between primary and secondary datasets and mortality records. This presentation related to those who were hospitalised due to the self-harm, identified as an important group… Continue reading Session 4: Healthcare Context
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Suicide Registrations Data Dr Ben Windsor-Shellard, Office for National Statistics (ONS). Dr Windsor-Shellard pointed out that possible inconsistency in the ONS data can stem from the registration delay between date of death and date of registration of death (i.e. 152 days on average in England) and recent changes in… Continue reading Session 3: Registered Suicides
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Self-harm trends and risk factors using adult general population surveys (AMPS) Sally McManus, National Centre for Social Research. Sally McManus discussed the new NatCen report – “Suicide and Self-Harm in Britain – researching risk and resilience” which uses a range of cross-sectional data sources gathered from 1993 onwards. Sally’s… Continue reading Session 2: General Population and Cohort Surveys
By Rebecca Musgrove and Lana Bojanić. Suicide Prevention Strategies: Data Needs and Data Gaps Prof Louis Appleby, University of Manchester. Prof Appleby summarised the key aims of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, in particular looking at “high risk” groups as well as other specific groups within the general population that may need targeted intervention. He… Continue reading Session 1: Context and Aims
