Earlier this year, a recent article from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics revealed that a growing number of young people in Canada are turning to self-harm. Child and adolescence psychiatrist Dr. Iliana Ortega spoke with the Gauntlet about the implications of this alarming trend.
Ortega works as an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary (U of C) and her research interests include severe dysregulation and suicidal behavior. She also consults with four different clinics in Calgary.
According to Ortega, the cause of the increase in self-harming behaviours is not based on one singular factor but the sum of many complexities. With war, uncertainty, global warming and economic issues, there are a lot of stressors for young people.
“Despair, depression and anxiety often go hand in hand with unhealthy coping strategies such as self-harming,” Ortega said.
One common misconception is that those who engage in self harm desire to take their own lives, but Ortega discusses how this is not always the case.
“People sometimes will self-harm as a way to express their distress or show others their inner suffering or dealing with feelings of numbness,” Ortega said.
Ortega mentioned how there is a large spectrum of signs and behaviours that young people who self harm may exhibit that people should be aware of. These behaviours include self isolation, avoidance, deterioration in everyday functioning, revealing ones self harm scars or hiding scars with long sleeves out of embarrassment. These actions may put them at higher risk of suicide later on. Based on interviews Ortega has had with young people, self harm often deters individuals from learning better coping mechanisms which in turn prolongs the behaviour.
In the year 2000, there was an average of 10.2 self-harm medical visits per 10,000 people, but that rate has grown since then. The increase in this rate is 3 times higher for girls than it is for girls for complex reasons. .
“[Female] brains are wired slightly differently. They respond to hormonal changes. There's also a tendency of how women process certain cognitive information; we tend to internalize more of our stress,” Ortega stated.
A psychiatric and epidemiological study found that women tend to ruminate more intensely than men, which puts them at higher rates for anxiety and depression..
Additionally, Ortega described how the isolation that many young people experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic is a factor contributing to mental health struggles in Canada. .
“Before the pandemic happened, our rates of anxiety, depression and other mental disorders were slightly going up," Ortega said. ”But once the pandemic came, we had a big shift over the first two years […] we saw a significant increase in the disorders […] but we never returned to the baseline.”
Young people are also becoming more exposed to global events and violent content, causing additional strain on their mental well-being.
“[Young people] don't get rest,” Ortega said. “There is a correlation between being constantly bombarded with negative content and not only the desensitization, but normalization.”
Ortega described how it is important for individuals to take care of their wellbeing by maintaining a balanced diet, quality sleep, physical activity and overcoming the fear of judgement by reaching out to friends and family are crucial. The professor compares factors to blocks that support and strengthen one's mental health.
“If those blocks are not well placed, then there's more risk for depression, emotional dysregulation [and]anxiety. It also increases the risk of having troubles socially, with school and with everything else,” Ortega said.
A jury recently found that Meta, the company helmed by Mark Zuckerberg who is behind popular apps such as Facebook and Instagram, violated consumer protection laws by concealing the dangers of child exploitation and causing harm to children's mental health. Ortega describes how she is “very hopeful or wishing that this will be a very first step moving in the right direction.”
“I think we need accountability […] people need to be responsible for how […] the algorithms in social media are created. I don't think they're necessarily done with the best interest of people's mental health and well-being,” Ortega said. “I think they are created with the desire of consumption and keeping people engaged. And unfortunately, if we're keeping people engaged in negative content…it definitely has negative impacts. And I hope that this is just the beginning of more systematic change.”
The federal government started developing the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63) to better protect youth from harmful content. The act would impose harsher sentences for spreading hate online and would require online platforms to take down content within 24 hours after it is flagged as harmful. However, the bill was tossed out in January of last year, when Parliament was dissolved. Many are calling for the act to be reintroduced. Ortega believes that Canada is falling behind in the global movement to advocate and protect children from online harm. Countries such as Australia, have imposed social media bans on children under 16 years old but Ortega advises that we will have to analyze what the research shows in regards to its effectiveness.
“I think there's definitely a role that we who work in mental health are responsible for and that's advocating for our young people. And perhaps we should be a little bit more upfront and loud with expecting these changes [as] changes require time,” Ortega said.
Ortega hopes that people know that there is help for those who are struggling. If someone feels like they are struggling with their mental health or need more support they can make a self-referral through Access Mental Health or reach out to their family doctor and ask for a referral.
Other resources include the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: for mental health crisis services and suicide bereavement support.
Understanding the signs, behaviours, and potential causes that contribute to the rise of self harm fosters increased awareness and encourages young Canadians to seek support.
