Sarah K Bergen

Use of melatonin linked to decreased self-harm in young people

• Given the established link between sleep problems, depression, and self-harm, we wanted to explore whether medical sleep treatment is associated with a lower rate of intentional self-harm in young people, says Dr Sarah Bergen, docent at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, KarThere is currently a youth mental health crisis, and the risk of self-harm and suicide is high, says Sarah Bergen. Our findings support the hypothesis that sleep interventions may reduce self-harm in this population, especially in girls.This suggests that melatonin might be responsible for the reduced self-harm rates, but we cannot rule out that the use of other psychiatric medications or psychotherapy may have influenced the findings, says Dr Marica Leone, first author of the study and former PhD student in Sarah Bergens resear
• Date: Mar 23, 2023
• Category: Health
• Source: Google