Bid to save young from self-harm
AROUND 100 children a year have to be treated by Doncaster Royal Infirmary doctors because they have deliberately injured themselves, it has been revealed.
The hospital revealed the figure as it prepared to join a scheme to try to help psychiatrists treat patients referred to them in the borough.
A spokesman said: "In the Doncaster area, there are around 100 hospital admissions for self-harm in the under-16s each year."
It is estimated that 10 to 15 per cent of young people in the UK have self-harmed, when someone deliberately hurts or injures themself.
Experts at the DRI's child and adolescent mental health service are taking part in a major national study into a technique called family therapy, which treats self-harm patients by involving relatives.
The study is being carried out because of uncertainly over what is the most successful way of stopping the problem.
Now a new seven-year study being funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme will aim to establish whether family therapy is an effective interventional technique in preventing young people from continuing to self-harm.
The study is called SHIFT - Self-Harm Intervention, Family Therapy - and is a 4.5m trial being led by the University of Leeds and NHS Leeds and involves around 800 young people and their families across the UK.
The DRI is one of 16 other organisations taking part by recruiting young people to the trial and carry out family therapy sessions.
Dr Melanie Dix, the trust's consultant psychiatrist, for child and adolescent mental health services, said: "We know there is a link between self-harm and difficulties in family relationships and communication but we just don't know enough about how best to help people overcome their reasons for self-harming.
"This large-scale study will enable us to explore whether family therapy can help young people and their families to identify why they self-harm and how to reduce episodes of self-harm in the future."
Participants in the seven-year trial will be 11 to 17-year-olds who have self-harmed more than once and have required hospital admission for their injuries - though those diagnosed with severe depression or other serious mental illness will not be asked to take part.
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