Prevalencia y funciones de los pensamientos y conductas autoagresivas en una muestra de adolescentes evaluados en consultas externas de salud mental

Background Suicidal and self-injurious behaviours in adolescents are a major public health concern. However, the prevalence of self-injurious thoughts and behaviours in Spanish outpatient adolescents is unknown. Methods A total of 267 adolescents between 11 and 18 years old were recruited from the Child and Adolescent Outpatient Psychiatric Services, Jimenez Diaz Foundation (Madrid, Spain) from November 1, 2011 to October 31, 2012. All participants were administered the Spanish version of the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviours Inventory, which is a structured interview that assesses the presence, frequency, and characteristics of suicidal ideation, suicide plans, suicide gestures, suicide attempts, and non-suicidal self-injury. Results One-fifth (20.6%) of adolescents reported having had suicidal ideation at least once during their lifetime. Similarly, 2.2% reported suicide plans, 9.4% reported suicide gesture, 4.5% attempted suicide, and 21.7% reported non-suicidal self-injury, at least once during their lifetime. Of the whole sample, 47.6% of adolescents reported at least one of the studied thoughts or behaviours in their lifetime. Among them, 47.2% reported two or more of these thoughts or behaviours. Regarding the reported function of each type of thoughts and behaviours examined, most were performed for emotional regulation purposes, except in the case of suicide gestures (performed for the purposes of social reinforcement). Conclusions The high prevalence and high comorbidity of self-injurious thoughts and behaviours, together with the known risk of transition among them, underline the need of a systematic and routine assessment of these thoughts and behaviours in adolescents assessed in mental health departments.