It is critical to consider the particular nature of self-harm in older adults to inform clinical practice and management, including suicide prevention. This gap is amplified when we consider the UK’s ageing population: in mid-2017, 18.2% of the population was aged 60 years or older, and this is projected to rise to 20.7% by 2027 (Office for National Statistics, 2018).
What separates self-harm in younger people to that seen in older adults? Surprisingly, there has been little robust literature published in the last decade exploring this and the silence is deafening. However, rates of suicide are actually among the highest in the elderly (World Health Organization, 2014), and self-harm is a major risk factor for suicide completion. We too commonly perceive self-harm as an issue affecting young people (Townsend, 2014) and the literature has largely focussed on this age-group.
Self-harm, the “act of self-poisoning or self-injury… irrespective of motivation”, is an enormous clinical and public health concern, which can have a devastating impact on the individual, family members, friends and broader society.
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