'Trivialising' responses causing youth who self-harm to turn backs on medical help: study.

Image: ABC. 

By Kristian Silva and Norman Hermant

Negative and damaging responses from front-line medical staff are a major reason why Australian youth self-harm rates are at “unacceptable” levels, researchers say.

The report quotes figures from previous research, which said one in 10 Australian adolescents had engaged in self-harming behaviour.

Other research mentioned in the report said one in five females aged between 16 and 17 had self-harmed.

“Often negative or trivialising responses come from the professionals in front-line services from whom young people, in their most vulnerable moments, are seeking compassionate and helpful responses,” the report said.

Dr Jo Robinson, the paper’s lead author, said some young people felt reluctant to seek follow-up treatment due to dismissiveness, trivialisation and scepticism from emergency staff.

“Young people told us some terrible stories about being stapled without anaesthetic by medical staff. That wouldn’t be acceptable in any other form of medicine so why is it seen to be ok here?” she said.

According to the paper, one respondent claimed a doctor asked if they had self-harmed to receive sympathy, while another said they helped patch up friends’ wounds because the injured parties did not want professional medical help.

Nicole Juniper, a 19-year-old university student from Melbourne, started self-harming when she was 14.

“It was mostly depression, anxiety, and pent up feelings that I didn’t know how to release, which just led to me doing stupid things like self-harm,” she said.

“Mostly cutting, sometimes burning but not too much, and things like scratching. I would occasionally punch my knees, so they would bruise.”

Ms Juniper said her experiences over years in hospitals and with doctors had not been not good.

“If you go to a hospital or a GP, often they aren’t specifically trained in mental illness, so they’re not too sure what to say, how to react,” she said.

“I often find they’ve been, at least for me, stand-offish. They don’t bring it up as much. They just try to fix whatever’s happened, get you on your way.”

The researchers called for detailed research to better understand how social media could have positive or negative impacts on young people at risk of self-harm.

In their report, the Orygen researchers made a number of recommendations to counter self-harm rates. They included:

• Creating a national response to youth self-harm to be developed by a cross-sector body established by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)
• Specialised training to be provided every two years to emergency services and health workers
• Improved data collection, including adding self-harm questions on population-based health surveys
• Developing evidence-based guidelines for responding to self-harm in schools
• A centralised registry for all e-mental health technologies providing interventions for self-harm, with an interface that can be accessed by clinicians, young people and their families
• Added funding for self-harm research
• Involving young people who had self-harmed and their families as key partners in research, policy and service responses

‘Behind these numbers are tragic stories of trauma’

Last week, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed a 13.5 per cent increase in suicides between 2009 and 2014.

Lifeline chief executive Pete Schmigel said it was time for Australia’s health authorities to acknowledge it was a crisis.

“We cannot forget that behind these numbers are tragic stories of trauma and heartache for mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, friends, colleagues and whole communities,” he said.

Ms Juniper is now in recovery and she said these days, she is “10 times better than I was”.

“If these [recommendations] are implemented, there will be more people out there like me, as opposed to people who are still not getting the best for what they need,” she said.

If you or someone you know needs help, call:

Lifeline on 13 11 14
Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467

© 2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Read the ABC Disclaimer here.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.