Are more men self-harming? And why?

In the UK some 170,000 people a year attend hospital after deliberately harming themselves. The UK has the highest self-harm rates in Europe. It’s hard to know what exactly this statistic means. Perhaps the UK just records it better or we finds it slightly less difficult to talk about than people in other countries.

Dr Tim Kendall, a consultant psychiatrist and co-director of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) told the BBC: ‘There's a rise amongst men probably in part because of problems about role confusion. Over the last 20 years it's become less and less clear what's valuable about being a bloke. Also we've gone through long periods where it's been quite difficult for young men to get jobs, so there's a big issue in that sense.’

‘The culture for blokes means they are much less likely to discuss the sorts of things like emotional problems - they are more reticent than women,’ he added. Self-harm is the third largest cause of death in 10-13 year-olds according to Dr Kendall, and is also an increasing phenomenon among young men aged 20 to 35.

‘People who self-harm frequently often had very difficult childhoods and also were abused physically, mentally or sexually. It also occurs where people suffer domestic violence, bad life events like the break-up of a relationship and violence, or in people who are depressed or people who have very heavy drinking problems.’

Methods of self-harm include overdosing on over-the-counter drugs and swallowing chemicals like bleach to cutting, gouging or scratching the skin.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) published its care guidelines for health professionals because people who self-harm were being offered inadequate treatment. The guidelines say that casualty departments need to be aware of the risks – for example, someone who self harms is 100 times more likely to commit suicide than someone who doesn’t - and that training should be provided for anyone coming into contact with someone who self-harms. Visits to casualty should be followed-up.