Thousands of children treated for self-harm including three-year-old who deliberately overdosed on paracetamol

  • 12,644 under-18s were admitted to hospital for self-harming last year 
  • 30% rise is blamed on cyber-bullying and the pressures of modern life 
  • Victims include a three-year-old boy who overdosed and a 10-year-old boy who tried to hang himself

By Hugo Gye

Published: | Updated:

More than 12,000 children were admitted to hospital after attempting to harm themselves last year, it has emerged.

The number of young people self-harming has risen by 30 per cent in a year - with the increase believed to be linked to the rise of cyber-bullying.

Among the victims are hundreds of toddlers, including one boy aged just three who took a deliberate overdose of paracetamol.

Scale: More than half of the youngsters investigated by police had action such as a charge or warning taken against them

Abuse: A rise in cyber-bullying on sites like Facebook is thought to have driven an epidemic of self-harm (picture posed by model)

A total of 12,644 children under the age of 18 were hospitalised for self-harm last year, according to figures obtained in a series of Freedom of Information requests - but because a quarter of NHS trusts refused to respond, the true number is almost certainly much higher.

In 2012, fewer than 10,000 children were found to have self-harmed, meaning the number has soared 30 per cent.

Among those to have been hospitalised were a 10-year-old boy in Stockport who tried to hang himself, and a seven-year-old from Derbyshire who deliberately ingested poison.

Shockingly, more than 400 toddlers deliberately hurt themselves in 2013, including the three-year-old from Cambridgeshire who took a painkiller overdose.

According to the figures, teenage girls are more at risk than boys, being three times more likely to go to hospital after self-harming.

However, among younger children boys are twice as likely to self-harm as girls.

Izzy Dix

Victims: Callum Moody-Chapman, left, and Izzy Dix, right, are two young people whose deaths have been linked to online abuse

A study released last week suggested that as many as one in five teenagers had deliberately self-harmed in a bid to deal with mental health issues.

The authors of the report blamed the increasing pressures of modern life, with overworked parents and children who are desperate to get into a good university in order to boost their chances in the weak job market.

Another factor behind the spate of deliberate self-harm appears to be online bullying, with social media exposing children to 'trolls' who set out to post cruel comments.

'We are aware of the increase in self-harm - it's a really common symptom of cyber-bullying,' Scott Freeman of Cybersmile told MailOnline.

'It's all tied in to feelings of helplessness and frustration. We've seen an increase in self-harm, and we've seen it in line with the rise in cyber-bulling.'

Lucy Russell of Young Minds added: 'Young people live in the online world 24/7, it's really relentless. It's much easier for them to connect with each other - and that connection can be negative in terms of learning about self-harm and copying self-harm.'

However, she also pointed to issues such as family breakdown, drink and drug addiction, negative body image and the prospect of 'bleak futures' due to the economic downturn.

Rachel Welch, director of selfharm.co.uk - a charity that supports young people who self-harm - said: 'Cyber bullying is a big deal. When I was a teenager you didn't have the internet - there was no Facebook, no Twitter, no Ask.fm.

'But with the internet there is now another huge outlet for people to be horrible to each other and I think cyber bullying is definitely one reason we are seeing a rise in young people self-harming.'

She also warned against seeing self-harm as an issue that primarily affects girls, saying that boys were equally susceptible to mental health problems.

'Society believes self-harm is a girl problem,' Mrs Welch said. 'The picture is of a 13-year-old girl sitting in her bedroom cutting herself with a razor.

'In teenage years it can be so much harder for boys to come forward and tell us how they are feeling.

'Whereas a girl might cut herself, a boy might punch a wall. Often this can be seen as violent and aggressive behaviour and it is not recognised as self-harm and they are dismissed.'

A number of children have taken their own lives in recent months after apparently suffering from cyber-bullying.

14-year-old Izzy Dix was found hanged at her home after months of insults directed at her by bullies using the controversial website Ask.fm.

And last week, an inquest found that Callum Moody-Chapman had drowned himself after suffering a campaign of hate from a friend on Facebook.

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