New Data Reveals Massive Spike in Self-Harm, Suicide Calls Among Adolescents

While reviewing data from the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the Washington Poison Center (WAPC) found that there was a substantial increase in reports of self-harm and suicide among the adolescent population.

Operating since 1956, WAPC is a nonprofit organization that assists residents of Washington state with calls related to poisoning and toxic exposures. WAPC also helps public policymakers and health leaders by providing resources that display public health trends.

While reviewing calls made to the center from 2019 to 2021, WAPC researchers reported that the increase in suicidal adolescents, a trend that began before the pandemic, continued. Within this three-year period, there was a 58 percent increase in 6 to 12-year-old patients reporting suicidal thoughts.

Regarding diagnoses, 10 percent related to suspected suicide ingestions. There was also a high proportion of cases relating to unintentional poison exposures.

Women were often far more likely than men to have feelings of self-harm. Among patients between 6 and 17 treated by WAPC in 2021, 2,344 were female, and 431 were male. Between 2019 and 2021, calls from female patients increased by 48 percent, while calls from male patients increased by only 3 percent.

Further, WAPC provided guidelines to improve the early detection of adolescents considering suicide. Some common characteristics of potential suicide include separation from loved ones, increased substance use, verbal expressions of hopelessness, giving up personal belongings, and conducting research on suicidal strategies.

WAPC also advised that intentional medication overdose is a commonly used suicide method among adolescents. Thus, guardians must keep both over the counter and prescription medications out of the reach of children.

Many organizations have conducted self-harm prevention case studies and implemented programs to reduce the number of suicide-related cases.

For example, in August 2019, St. Luke’s Health System in Idaho used a $3 million grant to create a mHealth messaging system, aiming to lessen suicide rates. The platform included a care plan that used connected health messages with a suicide prevention hotline specialist.

In July 2021, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center integrated telehealth into a suicide prevention study. Researchers plan to examine three types of treatment — inpatient emergency department, outpatient in-person, and outpatient telehealth —to determine which treatment was the most effective  for adolescents with suicidal thoughts.

In February, the American Hospital Association (AHA) requested that Congress pay address the behavioral health provider shortage. In its statement, the AHA acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in higher levels of anxiety and depression among adolescents, sometimes leading to suicide. The AHA believed that the number of Medicare-funded residency positions for all providers should be increased, thereby expanding access to care.