Report by Rashmi Patil for The New Indian Express
In what can be called a dangerous trend, one that everybody must pay attention to, there is a steady rise in self-harm cases among adolescent children and young adults. Child and adolescent psychiatrists from NIMHANS are expressing concern over the disturbing trend among children aged 12 to 18, and young adults up to 25 years.
Dr John Vijay Sagar Kommu, Head of Department, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Nimhans, said, “Self-harm among adolescents is the common case reported to mental health professionals. While we can’t point out the exact figures, there has been a steady raise in self-harm cases.
The reasons are family issues, peer pressure, academic pressure, peer relationships and when parents try to keep them away from technology and social media.” He explained, “We come across children who have thoughts about self-harm and also attempt self-harm. It is categorised into two types -- suicidal behaviour and attempted suicide, and Non-Suicidal Self Injury (NSSI).
In NSSI, there is no suicidal intent but they engage in self-injurious behaviour like cutting themselves superficially using sharp objects, burning, consuming tablets and small amounts of chemicals, scratching themselves with nails, hitting themselves against hard surfaces and so on. Though it may start as NSSI, it will progress into suicidal thoughts like jumping from heights or hanging themselves.”
Psychiatrists highlighted that children engage in this type of behaviour when they have psychological distress like anxiety and depression. John said, “There is no rule that there should be an underlying psychological disorder for those who are into NSSI. They have depression and anxiety issues for various reasons.”
Meanwhile, Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, who deals with technology de-addiction in the SHUT clinic (Services for Healthy Use of Technology) said, “We have come across cases of children who attempt self-harm if parents keep them away from gadgets. Parents are also equally scared, especially when they have only one child. Addressing technology addiction is a bigger challenge today.”
Therapies and medications
Psychiatrists and psychologists don’t jump into therapy or medication when they come across cases of self-harm among adolescents. Dr John explained, “Children require a comprehensive mental health evaluation. Therefore, we speak to them and build a rapport. We diagnose the kind of stress adolescents may have experienced.
Parallel to this, we conduct family intervention where we counsel parents that there is nothing shameful about children involved in self-harm, that has to be addressed on time. After this, we provide them with psychotherapy once a week and sometimes, they might even require medication. There are also cases where we have to facilitate rehabilitation and provide them with therapy five times a week, monitor their progress and behaviour.”