Self-harm and suicide attempts among LGBT people in Ireland

Background: Internationally, LGBT people have been consistently identified as a population who experience elevated rates of self-harm and suicide attempts compared to the heterosexual population. This pattern was evident in a... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Internationally, LGBT people have been consistently identified as a population who experience elevated rates of self-harm and suicide attempts compared to the heterosexual population. This pattern was evident in a 2009 survey of LGBT people in Ireland; however there is a need for more recent data in the context of advances in the civil and legal rights of LGBTI citizens.
Aim: To identify the prevalence and characteristics of self-harm and suicide attempts among LGBTI people in Ireland.
Methods: A 102-item online survey was completed by 2,264 LGBTI people. Self-harm was elicited using rigorous methods which required the participant to provide a description of self-harm which was coded according to pre-determined criteria. Ethical approval was received from the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Trinity College Dublin.
Findings: 34% of LGBTI people had self-harmed with almost half doing so in the past year. The most common forms of self-harm were self-cutting, overdose and self-battery. Self-harm was particularly high in young LGBTI people with 56% of 14-18 year olds reporting self-harm. In the 19-25 year age group, self-harm was twice that of participants in the My World survey. Of those who self-harmed, 60% reported that their self-harm was related to their LGBTI identity. Bisexual and transgender people were more likely to have self-harmed than intersex, lesbian/gay females and gay males. 21% of LGBTI people had attempted suicide, with one third of 15-19 year olds reporting a previous suicide attempt. Attempted suicide was 3 times higher in the 19-25 year age group compared to participants in the My World survey. Transgender and intersex people were more likely to attempt suicide than lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
Conclusion and Implications: The rate of self-harm and suicide attempts reported in this study is higher than the 2009 study of LGBT people in Ireland and significantly higher than Irish and international community studies of adolescents and young adults. These findings suggest the continued need for LGBTI people to be recognised as a priority group for self-harm and suicide prevention initiatives.