This warning comes from a recent study conducted at Stellenbosch University‚ and funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Research Foundation. Heavy drinkers and drug users are at greater risk of engaging in self-harm and other forms of suicidal behaviour.
Self-harm is an intentional and non-fatal self-injury or self-poisoning regardless of the level of intent to die.
“The use of substances such as alcohol and illegal drugs can lead to self-harm by increasing disinhibition‚ exacerbating feelings of anger and aggression‚ and impairing people’s ability to exercise good judgment. It can also precipitate psychotic symptoms leading to feelings of paranoia‚ delusions‚ and hallucinations which command a person to hurt or kill him or herself‚” said Dr. Elsie Breet from the university’s psychology department.
Breet recently obtained her doctorate in psychology at Stellenbosch. She explored the link between substance use and self-harm among patients who received treatment at Groote Schuur Hospital in the Western Cape.
Breet said there was increasing evidence in support of the need for context-specific evidence-based research to guide suicide prevention and intervention strategies. She added that little was known about the prevalence‚ correlates‚ nature‚ and context of substance use among self-harm patients in South Africa‚ which in turn hindered the planning of empirically supported hospital-based interventions.
Following a review of available literature‚ Breet said that the evidence suggested that for every completed suicide there were approximately eight to 22 visits to an emergency unit following an act of self-harm.
“Studies have consistently reported that substance use is a risk factor for self-harm which could be changed in ways to decrease the risk for self-harm‚” she said.
Breet added that available published data indicated that self-harm was more common among South Africans who are female‚ less educated‚ single‚ unemployed‚ socially isolated‚ had a history of trauma and were younger‚ in the 18 to 34 year age group.
Regarding the patients who participated in her study‚ Breet pointed out that “as many as 37% of self-harm patients reported that they had a history of chronic substance use”.
“Compared to other self-harm patients‚ those with a history of chronic substance use were more likely to be male‚ inflict damage to their bodies through violent methods of self-harm such as cutting or hanging‚ and have a history of prior incidents of self-harm.
“One in five self-harm patients reported that they had used substances prior to self-injury. Self-harm patients who had used substances were also more likely to have depressed levels of consciousness when admitted to the hospital and were more likely to utilise a greater number of medical resources and require a longer stay in the hospital.
“Patients under the influence of substances at the time of their self-harm were also more likely to have a history of previous self-harm and report that they intended to die as a result of their injuries‚” she found.
Highlighting the World Health Organisation’s affirmation that addressing substance use is integral to suicide prevention‚ Breet said it was pivotal that suicide intervention at Groote Schuur Hospital included strategies and referrals focusing on substance use.
Source: Times Live
