Citation

Reid S, Henry JA. Primary Care Psychiatry 2002; 8(1): 1-7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002)

DOI

10.1185/135525702125000408

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Deliberate self-harm is one of the most common reasons for emergency medical admission but remains a difficult and frustrating problem to manage, particularly in the longer term. Internationally the prevention of suicide has become a priority on the health agenda and measures aimed at the reduction of deliberate self-harm are considered central to that. There is a considerable body of epidemiological work highlighting changing trends in the at-risk population, yet so far this has been of limited value in developing effective management strategies. Psychological interventions developed in secondary care have shown some benefit but there is a need for such interventions to be evaluated in large populations, and given the prominent role of primary care in the aftercare of patients who deliberately self-harm this may be the most appropriate setting in which to determine their effectiveness.

Language: en

Keywords

alcohol abuse; analgesic agent; antidepressant agent; automutilation; barbituric acid derivative; benzodiazepine derivative; clinical trial; Deliberate self-harm; depression; Depression; drug abuse; drug effect; drug overdose; emergency health service; epidemiological data; flupentixol; high risk population; hospital admission; human; Interventions; long term care; motivation; outcomes research; paracetamol; Primary care; primary health care; priority journal; psychotherapy; review; salicylic acid derivative; self poisoning; suicide; Suicide; treatment planning