Study aims to find better treatments for self-harm patients

The study, led by experts from Leeds University, is designed to examine the potential benefits of a brief problem-solving therapy for people who have gone to hospital through self-harm.

Lead researcher David Owens, senior lecturer in psychiatry at Leeds University, said: “A great many people attend our general hospitals, often the A&E department, as a result of self-harm, usually an overdose of medicines or some kind of self-injury, but once the immediate effects of the self-harm are over we don’t have a clear idea about what best to offer people as a form of aftercare or treatment.”

He said the study aimed to set out to examine if a form of problem-solving therapy involving talking with a trained therapist on six occasions over a period of weeks might reduce repeat incidents. He added: “We hope that the current study will provide the facts that we need if we are to set up a full-scale trial.”

Anyone interested in taking part can visit the study website www.midshipsstudy.co.uk.