Facts & Figures

Self-harm is a subject that is not fully understood and until recently only very limited research had been carried out in the UK to find out how many people self-harm, why they do it, and what can be done about it.

Much of the current research and interest in self-harm among government and the medical profession concentrates on self-harming behaviour with suicidal intent (YWCA, 2002).

However, the majority of young people who self-harm report they are not trying to commit
suicide, but are ‘trying to cope’ and show that ‘something is wrong’ (Donnellan, 2004).