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Less than half of all young people with mental health difficulties will seek professional treatment. Due to the private nature of self-harm it is estimated that only 1:28 young males and 1:18 young females who self-harm ever present to hospital. Self-help supports improved coping strategies and life changes without reliance on a clinical intervention which could be used to reduce self-harming behaviours. The study objective is to review self-help alternatives to self-harm on mental health websites that can be accessed by young people. Google, Bing, and Yahoo search engines were used to search for appropriate websites. Eighty-two unique websites on mental health were identified, of which 55 met the inclusion criteria. A total of 1177 self-help suggestions were found for those struggling with self-harm urges. The average number of suggestions per site was 42 (Range 3-252). The main techniques suggested were: seeking social contact/help, physical activity, displacement/mimicking techniques, relaxing/comforting techniques, sensory techniques, fun/diverting techniques, aggressive techniques, creative/reflective techniques. This review found not all strategies were suitable for young people and that the large number of possible strategies could be challenging for a young person to navigate. However, mental health self-help websites were generally of high quality and gave a range of potentially helpful strategies. The categories created from this review could be used as a guide to consider with the young person when making an individualized self-help plan to manage self-harm urges. Further research is required to assess if and how these techniques could be used individually or in combination to reduce self-harm.

Previous studies have shown that autistic people often display atypical responses when processing sensory information, with particular prevalence within the auditory domain. Often provoked by common everyday sounds, auditory hypersensitivity can result in self-regulatory fear responses. This can be potentially harmful to autistic individuals and the people around them and is associated with greater occurrence of anxiety, depression, and poorer overall quality of life in the autistic population. Rather than a physiological causation, the literature suggests that hypersensitivity to sound is likely to be caused by how auditory stimuli are processed in the brain. This paper reports a home-based digital intervention aimed to address auditory hypersensitivity in autistic children. Developed as an interactive virtual reality game, the system integrates exposure-based therapy techniques into game mechanics and delivers target auditory stimuli to the player rendered via binaural-based spatial audio. The performance of the platform was evaluated in a 10-week feasibility study, during which children (n = 7) engaged weekly with the game during a 30 min session. Following this period, a comparison of pre- and post-study measurements showed a decrease in sensitivity for five participants, with qualitative feedback highlighting an increase in tolerance towards real-world stimuli and challenging environments. These results provide initial support for SoundFields as a home-based intervention targeting auditory hypersensitivity experienced by autistic children.

Background: In recent years, the rates of young people presenting with self-harming have increased dramatically, with self-harm being a predictor of suicide. Despite evidence suggesting that self-harm is common in young people and that hospital admissions are increasing, research exploring the reasons behind young people’s motivations is not easily accessed. Systematic reviews have explored this from a range of perspectives, but none have drawn all this literature together. Methods: A systematic review of systematic reviews was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Seven databases were searched using a peer reviewed search strategy, with a focus on the factors of child and adolescent self-harming. All English language articles, published between 2008 and 2021, were considered, and screened against inclusion criteria. References of included articles were also searched for eligible articles. Results: Twenty-two systematic reviews were included after screening against eligibility criteria. Narrative synthesis identified eight themes for motivation or reasons for self-harming: identity and subcultures, peer influences, educational stressors, mental ill health, cognitive and neuropsychological factors, trauma and attachment, internet influences and social media. Conclusion: Reasons for self-harming in adolescents are complex and multifactorial. Many studies focus on single causes or associations with self-harm rather than open-mindedly exploring a range of factors or the interactions between them. This leaves gaps in the research where hypothetical reasons for self-harm have not been systematically explored. The themes identified here could help in the clinical assessment process and guide future research in this area, including the development of potential differentiated prevention and treatment approaches.

The use of social prescribing interventions for common mental health issues is expanding as clinicians seek to diverge from the traditional medical model of treatment. This intervention allows for the referral of patients to a nonclinical social activity via a link worker. Evidence for the benefits of social prescribing is growing. Most evidence is based on adults; however, a smaller number of studies involving children and young people have produced encouraging results. This evaluation reports on data routinely collected by the Linking Leeds service between 9 January 2019–11 January 2020. Linking Leeds provides Social Prescribing for people aged 16 years and above; however, the current paper focuses on service users aged between 16 and 25. Their aim is to connect people to services and activities in their community in order to benefit overall health and mental wellbeing. This evaluation of the Linking Leeds program supports the growing body of evidence to support the benefits social prescribing can have on young people’s mental health. Two main mechanisms were identified which underpin social prescribing in young people: social connectedness and behavioural activation.

AimsThe primary aims of our study is to gather ideas from young people about developing an intervention for children who first started using social media. Our study also aims to investigate whether different types of social media use are associated with impact of social media on emotions and self-esteem.MethodsAn anonymous questionnaire was distributed to young people (16–25 years old), who were UK residents, through word of mouth, social media and university newsletters. We assessed participants’ baseline characteristics, including types of social media use (active, active-passive and passive), impact of social media. We also explored young people's idea on developing a social media intervention, including how it should be delivered, topics that needs to be covered. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ordinal regression analysis.Results90 young people completed the questionnaire. 37.8% of the participants started using social media before 13 years old. Analysis has shown that interacting with other users and creating social media content is associated with higher self-rated negative impact on self-esteem from social media, but there is no association between impact on self-esteem and reacting to other's social media content or browsing other's social media content. Types of social media use were not associated with a self-rated impact of social media on emotions. Regarding the co-development of an intervention for social media, young people believe the best ways to distribute information about social media is through an interactive session by professionals (36.7%) or teaching it in class (28.9%) while the least popular ways are poster/booklet (1.11%) and mobile phone app (1.11%). The majority of young people felt the following topics on social media to be useful to cover during interventions, including risks on social media (85.6%), emotional safety on social media (81.1%), social media hygiene (70.0%), coping strategies and finding help on social media (66.7%), communication on social media (58.9%).ConclusionAlthough types of social media use are not associated with impact on emotions from social media, those who create social media content are at higher risk of having more impact on self-esteem. Interventions should be developed to help protect or improve self-esteem while using social media. This could be done by focusing on different topics. Future interventions for young social media users should be interactive and led by experts. They should also start before children reaches the common legal age of social media use to make them more resilient to the digital world.

All professionals engaged in clinical work should be competent to assess consent for the interventions they provide. This study assesses CAMHS clinicians confidence and knowledge in the various forms of consent and the number of minors admitted to mental health units in England under parental consent alone. An online questionnaire using vignettes of possible scenarios was sent to child and adolescent mental health practitioners in Tees Esk and Wear Valleys Trust. A freedom of information request was used to determine the number of young people admitted through parental consent. Thirteen of the 20 trusts contacted had no knowledge of the number of young people admitted under parental consent. A total of 93 participants completed the survey. Out of six vignettes, there were two where the majority of responses were discordant with current legal advice. Both of these vignettes considered the use of parental consent for admission to a mental health unit. This study provides further evidence to indicate that the current consent processes in CAMHS causes confusion for clinicians. There continues to be very few safeguards for children admitted under parental consent, with most trusts in England and Wales having no centralised knowledge of whether this is occurring and the numbers involved if it is.

BackgroundAdolescents with severe restrictive eating disorders often require enteral feeding. Nasogastric feeding is occasionally used during hospitalisation to treat medical instability as a result of malnourishment, or in a specialist setting to supplement minimal oral intake by underweight patients. There is minimal guidance for clinicians to determine when nasogastric feeding should be implemented, how it should be provided and how to complement feeding with a nasogastric tube. This systematic review sets out to determine best practice for NG feeding.MethodsA systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted by searching AMED, EMBASE and MEDLINE databases from 2000-2020. Inclusion terms used were as follows: enteral feeding by nasogastric tube, under 18 years, eating disorders, and primary research. Exclusion terms: mental disorders other than eating disorders; non-primary research; no outcomes specific to NG feeding and over 18 years. Titles and abstracts were screened by all authors before reviewing full length articles.Results28 studies met the full criteria. 51.7% of studies were deemed high risk of bias due to the type of study: 37.9% retrospective cohort and 10.3% RCT; 17.2% were qualitative. Studies identified 1) 6-66% required NG feeding; 2) staff and young people understand its necessity but generally view it negatively; 3) there are 3 main types of feeding regime: continuous, nocturnal and bolus; 4) high calorie feeds are not associated with increased risk of refeeding syndrome; 5) Common complications were nasal irritation, epistaxis, electrolyte disturbance, distress and tube removal; 6) length of stay in hospital may be longer in patients requiring NG feeding; 7) psychiatric and medical wards differ in approach; 8) concurrent therapy reduces NG use and aids recovery.ConclusionsAll studies which reviewed the use of NG over a period of time found that it had increased significantly in recent years. Due to the possibility of patient removal of the tube, it may be beneficial in practice to deliver feeds using a bolus regime which has been tailored to the individual caloric needs of the patient. This review enables cautious recommendations to be made and highlights the lack of high-quality evidence around the use of NG feeding in eating disordered young people.