Self-harm victims need therapy not hospitalisation

THE report from the Irish Association of Suicidology that fewer than one in five people (not ‘patients’) who harm themselves are admitted to a general hospital needs a response (Irish Examiner, February 20).

Firstly, the politically-motivated use of the term ‘general hospital’ is to inculcate the change from having dedicated psychiatric hospitals to having psychiatric departments attaching to general hospitals.

Secondly, self-harm is an indication (not a symptom) that a person is emotionally distressed (not mentally ill) and is in need of psychological (not psychiatric) help.