An Australian study has shown that self-harm is increasingly common in teenagers, and that 1 in 12 teens will self-harm. 
 
The ‘Lancey study’ also found that 10% of teenage girls will self-harm and 6% of teenage boys (the percentage for teenage boys is rising rapidly though) will self-harm at some point in their life. The findings will have important implications for the treatment of mental health issues and on the prevention of suicide in young adults.

The findings will be effecting the issue of suicide in young adults because some ‘scary’ facts have been revealed;

1) Deaths by suicide are rising each year… especially in teenagers/young adults! 1 million people now commit suicide each year.
2) Researchers have established a link between self-harm and suicide. They reckon that out of 1 million people who commit suicide, 50%-60% have a history of self-harm.
3) Self-harm is one of the most common ‘factors’ which take place before suicide.

Researchers are using these facts to try and gain support for more people who currently self-harm & are at risk of self-harming/suicide.

Researchers also discovered that the main factors which are associated with self-harm are; anxiety, depression, heavy alcohol use, cigarette smoking and cannabis use.  They also found out that burning and self-cutting were the main methods of self-harm.

It was also announced that 90% of teenagers who self-harm will stop by the time they become an adult. However, Major Wallace, the chief executive of 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.”

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