| Abstract [eng] |
Suicide attempts and self-harm are major issues in adolescence, often leading to irreversible consequences. Due to the developing personality, lack of impulse control, adolescents do not use mature coping mechanisms, often resort to self-harm or, in extreme cases, suicide. These phenomena not only often co-occur, but they also share common risk factors. Biopsychosocial factors, like mental disorders, traumatic experiences, or social relationships, are associated with an increased risk of suicide attempts and self-harm. Identification of these factors can aid in the comprehensive assessment of the risk of self-harm and suicide. The links between suicide attempts and self-harm would allow specialists to quickly identify a high-risk teenager and apply effective treatment and preventive measures, which would reduce the risk of developing these phenomena or their consequences. The thesis aim is to comprehensively assess suicide attempts and self-harm among adolescents, including relevant and problematic biopsychosocial aspects, to identify common associations between these phenomena, and to discuss their clinical significance. Objectives 1. To collect and analyze scientific literature on the associations between suicide and self-harm. 2. Using the database of the University Department of Children and Adolescents of the Republican Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital, select relevant and problematic associations between self-harm and suicide attempts. 3. To statistically process the collected data, present the results, conclusions of the study. 4. Based on the analysis of the literature and the results of the study, to provide recommendations that could reduce the risk of suicide attempts and self-harm in adolescents. Research methods: A retrospective data analysis was performed using the database of the University Department of Children and Adolescents of the Republican Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital. The study covered patients' records from December 2022 to February 2025. Information on sociodemographic factors (age, gender), diagnoses of mental disorders, information on suicide attempts, self-harm, childhood trauma, family status and environment, educational outcomes, and extracurricular activities were selected from the patients' medical histories and entered into the database. Statistical analyses were conducted using Microsoft Excel and R-Commander. A Chi-square test was used to assess the relationship between variables. Results were considered statistically significant when p<0.05. Results of the study: Adolescents who had at least one episode of self-harm were almost three times more likely to attempt suicide. More than half (50.9%) of adolescents who had experienced repeated self-harm had attempted suicide more than once. Depressive disorders were the most common among both self-harm and suicide attempts. Girls were 1.8 times more likely to harm themselves and 2.7 times more likely to attempt suicide than boys. Psychosocial aspects such as bullying, psychological, physical, or sexual violence, parental alcoholism, psychiatric illnesses in the family, and substance use were statistically significantly more common among adolescents who had attempted suicide and had experienced self-harm (p<0.05). Conclusions: The results revealed that suicide attempts and self-harm are associated with common risk factors that must be assessed comprehensively. Self-harm was a significant factor increasing the risk of suicide attempts, and its early identification is necessary for suicide prevention. More frequent suicide attempts and self-harm among girls and adolescents with depression suggest that these are at increased risk groups, they should be included in the risk assessment. The results highlighted that adverse psychosocial factors significantly increased the risk of suicide attempts and self-harm, therefore their recognition and systematic assessment should be an integral part of the risk assessment of suicide attempts and self-harm. |
