Children as young as six years of age are presenting to hospital having attempted suicide, a new study has shown, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, in Killarney.
The cases of 439 young people who presented at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, and the Children's University Hospital, Temple Street, Dublin, as a result of deliberate self-harm over a period of five to 10 years were reviewed.
Some 197 of the children presented to the A&E at Crumlin between 1994 and 2003, and the other 242 presented to Temple Street between 2002 and 2006.
About 10 per cent of the children were under the age of 11 and the youngest child was just six years old. The oldest was 17 years.
The study is to be presented today at a major international conference on suicide in Killarney, Co Kerry. One of its authors, Prof Carol Fitzpatrick, professor of child psychiatry at University College Dublin, said the discovery that a child as young as six had presented as a result of self-harm was one of the unexpected findings of the review.
"You don't really expect suicidal behaviour to present at this age. You expect it to start presenting around early adolescence but these were children who were pre-adolescent and most of them were coping with very difficult family situations," she said.
Prof Fitzpatrick disclosed that the majority of the youngsters had overdosed, usually with paracetamol, and she said there was a message here for parents not to leave tablets lying around.
"Children tend to use what's available to them. They tend not to go out and buy things . . . they take whatever is at home," she said.
Meanwhile, the review found more than half of those presenting to the two hospitals - 56 per cent - had expressed a wish to die and 29 per cent of the total had made a previous suicide attempt.
There was a family history of completed suicide in 12 per cent of cases. Among the very young children presenting, there were equal numbers of boys and girls.
"I think the main message from this is that suicidal behaviour happens in children, even in very young children, and parents just need to be aware of that, and families who have experienced a child with suicidal behaviour need an awful lot of support to help them to help their child to recover," she said.
A new support programme for parents and carers of children and adolescents who have engaged in suicidal behaviour started in January at Temple Street and the preliminary results were very encouraging, she added.
Prof Fitzpatrick pointed out, however, that the child and adolescent mental health services in the State are very under-resourced.