The Scientific investigation

Running head: Scientific investigation
Scientific investigation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
Scientific investigation
Abstract
The rate of hospitalizations due to self-harm is increasing among the teenagers and young
adolescents which can be as a result of a number of factors including psychosocial, social,
psychological, cultural and familial factors. Previous researches have suggested the relationship
of self-harm with mental disorders and mental health conditions like depression, anxiety,
psychosis and other related conditions that are considered to be risk factors of self-harm. This
paper, thus aims to conduct a scientific investigation on the prevalence of self-harm, types of
injures and its association with mental health conditions. This study also gives an overview of
the interventions or the treatment approaches of self-harm targeting the study populations.

2
Scientific investigation
Introduction
Self-harm is a well-known and a major communal problem with an increasing rate of
self-injuries that can also lead to suicide among teenagers and adolescents. Important risk factors
contributing to self-harm include genetic susceptibility and other psychosocial, psychiatric,
familial, social and cultural factors. Adolescents exhibiting self-harm attitude or behavior must
be assessed properly and monitored in order to understand the risk factors and the major
contributors to their self-harm. However, there are challenges while developing a deeper
understanding of the factors contributing to self-harm and there is not plenty of evidences on the
efficiency of psychosocial or pharmacological management of self-harm, specifically in relation
to the effectiveness of antidepressants (Hawton, Saunders and O’Connor 2012).
Self-harm is considered to be a deliberate and harmful act of injuring oneself by means of
carving, scratching, marking, cutting, burning or abrasions, biting, hitting, bruising, piercing and
others. The psychology behind attempting self-injurious actions are critical to understand,
however, it is believed to be because of some mental illnesses like depression, bipolar disorder,
psychosis, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other related mental conditions. Thus, in
order to prevent these behaviors among teenagers and adolescents, it is important to access the
patient’s psychological condition and collect all information such as past medial history, past
mental history and social history in order to get a comprehensive understanding of the major
contributors of self-harm and develop and implement strategies to treat each individual mental
disorders like depression, anxiety and others (Brown and Plener 2017).

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Scientific investigation
Methods
The scientific investigation has been conducted by searching the relevant articles from
databases like Pub Med, CINAHL and Google Scholar by using some basic keywords. A total of
25 articles were found to be relevant in this area. However, only 17 articles were chosen for
conducting this scientific survey based on the inclusion criteria. 8 articles were excluded since
they did not meet the minimum criteria required to carry out the investigation. Articles that did
not have conclusive research findings and lack an abstract have been excluded. Each of the
articles gathered were evaluated by reading their abstracts, research question and the hypothesis
and the publishing year and then used in the study to get the current findings. Some of the
keywords used in the research are “self-harm”, “self-harm among teenagers”, “self-harm among
adolescents”, “Prevalence of self-harm”, “management of self-harm”, “self-harm treatment”,
“Self-injury”, “ Self injury types and methods”, “Self-harm and mental illness”.
Study population: The study population chosen for conducting this scientific investigation is
teenagers between 15-19 years of age and young adults between 20-24 years of age. The
rationale behind choosing the sample population can be defined in terms of prevalence. It has
been found that the population belonging in this age ground are more susceptible to self-harm
because of a variety of factors including an increased academic pressure, peer pressure, a poor
social image, and social isolation, lack of satisfaction of their lives, poor financial conditions,
distress, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and mental illnesses. One of the prime factors for
the maximum prevalence among the study population is substance abuse. Evidences show that
substance abuse is more common in adolescents and becomes an important reason behind their
self-harm behaviors.