Tri-Service
Increase In Armed Forces Personnel Self-Harming
The number of people in the British Armed Forces deliberately self-harming has jumped by more than a third.
Figures released by the Ministry of Defence revealed a 36% increase in the number of servicemen and women who self-harmed at least once between 2010 and 2015.
The figures showed 383 instances of deliberate self-harming among Navy, Army and RAF personnel in 2014/15.
In 2010/11 the figure was 339.
The information doesn’t include those who considered doing it or thought about suicide.
Service personnel in the Army, women and those under 24 appeared to be the most at risk.
People aged under 20 were 10 times more likely to self-harm than those aged 45 and over.
Women were twice as likely as men to be at risk.
The MoD said the risk groups were in line with the general population and it added that improved recording methods could be partly to blame for the apparent rise.
The data included regular armed forces personnel, mobilised reservists, full-time reservists and non-regular permanent staff alongside trained and untrained personnel.
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