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Epidemiology

Authoring team

The number of cases of deliberate self-harm is far greater than the number of completed suicides.

In England and Wales about 200,000 cases of deliberate self-harm are admitted per year

Deliberate self-harm:

  • occurs predominately in young people, aged 15 to 25
  • in women more often than men
  • is 15 times more common in social class V than in social class I
  • is 3 times more common in overcrowded home situations
  • is 19 times more common in the unemployed
  • is more likely if parasuicidal behaviour is prevalent in the culture of the individual
  • Britain has the highest rate in Europe, the Netherlands has the lowest

Deliberate self-harm is associated with:

  • marital disharmony
  • domestic crisis
  • a history of a broken home in childhood
  • high alcohol consumption
  • epilepsy
  • child abuse

Reference:

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