The number of children under 15 needing hospital treatment for self-harming has doubled in a decade. Doctors warn anxiety over climate change, Brexit and Covid is fuelling the crisis, along with social media.
Some 7,473 youngsters were treated in England in 2019/20 – more than 20 a day. Of those, 116 were under-eights. The number is up from 3,632 10 years ago and set to get even worse due to Covid.
Dr Bernadka Dubicka, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, is leading calls for more specialist doctors. She said youngsters felt “a sense of hopelessness” over “the recession, climate emergency, Brexit and now the pandemic”.