Summary: Suicide is among the leading causes of mortality in teenagers and young adults. And self-harm is among the risk factors for suicide in adolescents. However, risk factors for self-harm are poorly understood, as identifying them may help prevent more severe outcomes in this population group. The new study suggests that teenagers who self-harmed have higher pain thresholds or are less sensitive to pain stimuli.
Self-harm is pretty common among teenagers. In fact, most caretakers do not realize that it is among the leading cause of mortality in adolescents. Studies suggest that one-fourth of teens would have thoughts of self-harm sometimes, and 15% would even carry out this act. These are individuals at higher risk of suicide1. However, yet, it is among the poorly understood subjects. Doctors and caretakers still treat it as a behavioral or emotional health issue. However, a high pain threshold may have something to do with self-harm is a relatively unrecognized factor. At least, a new study suggests that teens who self-harm are less sensitive to pain stimuli.
Of course, these are just some of the initial findings. It is unclear how this higher threshold for pain makes them more likely to engage in self-harm. It is among the most relevant studies examining the relationship between physical sensitivities and the risk of self-harm. The study was published in the JAMA Network Open journal2. The study enrolled 64 participants aged 12 to 17 years. The study was done in the UK. To understand what kind of physical sensitivities were more common in children known to cause self-harm, researchers gave them a series of 13 tests. During tests, participants did not endure pain, as they were told to stop the test if they felt any pain.
Researchers say this kind of study is very important in a relatively neglected subject. It seems that suicide is among the leading causes of death among teenagers and young adults. However, everything begins with episodes of self-harm, and the first episodes occur at the age of around 12 years. Interestingly the study also found that those who had repeatedly self-harmed had lower pain sensitivities. Thus, those who self-harmed five or more times had a considerably higher pain threshold than those who never self-harmed.The study also found that those who had repeatedly self-harmed had lower pain sensitivities, and those who self-harmed five or more times had a considerably higher pain threshold than those who never self-harmed. The subject of opioid addiction treatment is also relevant to this topic.
Young adults, especially teenagers, are not likely to visit clinics or healthcare clinics. Yet, almost one-fifth of suicides occur in this age group. This is the reason why the cause of suicides remains so poorly understood among teenagers. Of course, researchers noted that this might not be an excellent biomarker of higher suicide risk. Nonetheless, the study added to understanding this complex and sensitive topic. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the findings have no practical value. These findings can be used to create some simple device to measure pain threshold, and its findings may be used as one of the factors associated with higher self-harm risk.
Interestingly, the study found that these teenagers are also relatively insensitive to other stimuli compared to those who never harm themselves. It means that there is still a need for more tests. However, it is pretty likely that sensitivity to other stimuli may also be used along with measuring pain threshold to understand the self-harm risk in teenagers and young adults.To sum up, self-harm is quite common in teenagers. Understanding it is vital to prevent suicides in this age group, as it remains the leading cause of mortality in teenagers and young adults, and things are only getting worse. This new study helps develop a better understanding of the subject and is a step forward.
By Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP
