England (Commonwealth Union) – Peer pressure, negative influences from the media together with recent COVID-19 pandemic which brought about a series of lockdowns resulting in a disruption to daily life, have all had devastating effects on the general population. However, the younger generation who are yet to experience many aspects of life have been hit harder. This was reaffirmed by a new paper, which revealed that approximately 1 in 10 young people across the United Kingdom are experiencing continuous physical pain and suicidal thoughts.
The paper was done by researchers from the University of Oxford, Cambridge, Oslo in Norway, King’s College London, and the Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Deu in Spain. The researchers point out the requirement for increased awareness across a range of health, social care, and school-based services on ways to recognize suicidal risk, particularly for individuals who also have physical pain and have a greater possibility to come into contact with professionals.
The data was generated from over 8,000 adolescents between 11 and 15 years old. This was across the UK with participants for the My Resilience in Adolescence (MYRIAD) trial, which took place. The study revealed that 9% of adolescents indicated experiencing both persistent pain, which was continuous in the last 6 months and suicidality, which ranged from thoughts about suicide and self-harm to acting on them. They also demonstrated signs of being at higher risk of depression, anxiety, problems with their peers and increased consumption of prescription medication.
Almost 3 quarters of the group going through both pain and suicidality were girls.1 in 5 of adolescents in the study indicated suicidality and 22% reported continuous or recurrent pain.
‘With young people with both pain and suicidality accessing a range of services, it is vital there is more awareness of the increased suicidal risk in adolescents with persistent or recurrent pain,” explained Dr Verena Hinze, from the University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry.
