Reactive statement – Samaritans’ participation in BBC 2 documentary: Meera Syal: A World of Pain

Rachel Kirby-Rider, Director of Fundraising and Communications at Samaritans said:

Samaritans felt it was vital to contribute to Meera Syal’s documentary ‘A World of Pain’ to help promote a greater understanding of and to reduce the stigma associated with self-harm.  We hope that others affected by self-harm will take inspiration from Sophie’s experience and that they too will be able to speak out and find a way forward.

Sophie’s story helps Meera illustrate how self-harm can provide a means of survival. Sophie explains how self-harming enabled her to cope with her unbearable childhood at the hands of an abusive father, by offering her emotional release and a sense of control which she believes saved her from suicide.

Towards the end of the programme, Meera looks at how having reached utter desperation, Sophie eventually got help by calling Samaritans. As Sophie is reunited with Pam, the volunteer who took her call and continued to help her, she explains to Meera how being able to talk about her feelings with the help of Samaritans kept her alive and put her on the path where she is today. Sophie’s insight aligns itself with the closing point of the documentary; Meera concludes that for all those people who self-harm that she has spoken to; talking has been the first step to help.

At the heart of what Samaritans does, is the belief that being given the time and space to talk about overwhelming feelings, without being judged, can offer huge relief and is often the first step in finding a way to cope. Sometimes people, like Sophie feel they are unable to talk to someone they know perhaps because they don’t want to be a burden or there is no one they feel they can trust and this is where our trained volunteers can help.

The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (2007)* estimates that 1 in 20 people in England alone have self-harmed at some point in their life, a figure which increases to 1 in 6 amongst women aged 16-24. However, the prevalence of self-harm in the UK is something broadly debated as definitive figures have as yet not been identified and furthermore the stigma associated with self-harm makes it likely the problem is widely underestimated.

As ‘A World of Pain’ demonstrates self-harm is a very real yet complex issue and the lack of consistent data available highlights that it is not one we can shy away from but one that needs increased public awareness, funding and research to enable people to get the support and treatment they deserve.

Our trained volunteers are available 24 hours a day to offer confidential, non-judgemental support to anyone experiencing emotional distress, you can contact Samaritans by Telephone on 08457 90 90 90 (1850 60 90 90 in ROI) or Email at jo@samaritans.org or face to face. Visit www.samaritans.org for details of your local branch.

- - Ends - -

Notes to Editors

For further information or to speak to a Samaritans spokesperson please contact Robyn Clark +44 (0)20 8394 8348 / r.clark@samaritans.org or Nicola Peckett +44 (0)20 8394 8343 / n.peckett@samaritans.org

Notes/references:

*Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England, 2007: Results of a household survey. NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care (published 2009). This is based on a sample of the adult population in England aged 16 and over.

About Samaritans

It is the aim of Samaritans to make emotional health a mainstream issue.  Samaritans' vision is for a society where fewer people die by suicide because people are able to share feelings of emotional distress openly without fear of being judged.  Samaritans believes that offering people the opportunity to be listened to in confidence, and accepted without prejudice, can alleviate despair and suicidal feelings.

Samaritans is a registered charity, founded in 1953, which offers 24-hour confidential emotional support to anyone in emotional distress.  The service is offered by 16,534 trained volunteers and is entirely dependent on voluntary support.  Across the UK, you can call Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 (1850 60 90 90 in the Republic of Ireland) email jo@samaritans.org, write to Samaritans at Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA, or if you are deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number 08457 90 91 92. Log on to www.samaritans.org for more information. Calls from BT will be charged at up to 2 pence per minute at all times. A call set-up fee of 7 pence applies to calls from residential lines. Mobile and other providers' charges may vary.