Hammersmith Health Books

self-harming and suicide due to its prevalence worldwide and as such conducted a great deal of research into the topic and engaged in further training in the area.

Through supporting stressed and distressed teenagers from 12 years upwards, I noticed common themes, presentations, thought processes and struggles which I have come to term ‘self-defeatist syndrome’.

Many came to see me feeling anxious, scared, tired, overwhelmed, angry and isolated, with a very negative view of themselves and their abilities and a great sense of hopelessness and inadequacy.