by Bernie English bernie@limerickpost.ie
DELIBERATE self-harm is happening in Limerick City twice as often as the national average.
Statistics from the National Registry of Deliberate Self Harm recorded the highest rate of incidents in Limerick city – 469 incidents per 100,000 head of population at a time when the city’s population was 95,854.
The 2012 statistics, which are the most up to date, refer to self-harm among men and women.
The national male rate of deliberate self-harm was 195 per 100,000 and the female rate was 228 per 100,000, this means that the male rate had increased by 20 per cent since 2007 and the female rate increased by 6 per cent over the same period.
“There was widespread variation in the male and female deliberate self-harm rate when examined by city/county of residence, ” the report states.
The male rate varied from 107 per 100,000 for Galway County to 469 per 100,000 for Limerick city. The lowest female rate was recorded for Monaghan and highest female rate was for Limerick city residents.
The highest rates for both men and women were seen in Limerick city, where both rates were more than twice the national average.
The National Registry of Deliberate Self Harm, in 2012 recorded 12,010 presentations to hospital due to deliberate self-harm nationally, involving 9,483 individuals.
The peak rate for women was in the 15-19 years age group whereas the peak rate among men was in 20-24 year olds.
“These rates imply that one in every 162 girls in the 15-19 age group and one in every 188 men in the 20-24 age group presented to hospital as a consequence of deliberate self-harm,” according to the report.
The figures were released as the HSE brought in the services of Prof. Marsha Linehan, a US based psychologist internationally renowned for developing dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), to train mental health professionals in her latest techniques.
