Ann John

Last updated
Ann John
Employer Swansea University
Known forAdolescent mental health, Suicide and Self-harm prevention

Ann John, FLSW is a Professor in Public Health and Psychiatry at the Swansea University Medical School. She chairs the National Advisory Group to Welsh Government on the prevention of suicide and self-harm. She is an honorary consultant in Public Health medicine for Public Health Wales and Trustee of the Mental Health Foundation [1] [ circular reference ]. In 2019, she was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. [2]

Contents

Education

John's parents arrived in London from Kerala in 1966. [3] She was born and grew up in London. She was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls [4] [ circular reference ] and then Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School [5] [ circular reference ] where she qualified as a doctor. [6] During her medical degree she intercalated to study sociology, which began an interest in inequality. [3] She earned a Medical Doctorate at Swansea University in 2011, where she established a Suicide and Self-Harm research group. [7] [8]

Career

She moved to Swansea as a junior doctor, where she worked in accident and emergency at Morriston Hospital. [3] John has been a general practitioner, a medical advisor to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and a Clinical Assistant in Psychiatry. [3] She is now an academic researcher and has contributed considerably to research into children and young people's mental health and suicide and self-harm prevention. [9]

Mental health, including prevention of suicide and self-harm

Her expertise lie in epidemiology, suicide and mental disorders. [10] She is a Principal Investigator with the National Centre for Mental Health, where she leads the informatics group. [8] She is a Farr Institute Investigator where uses big data to understand mental health in young people. [11] In 2017, after looking at data on psychotropic prescribing from over 300,000 patients aged between 6 and 18 years old, guidance was issued on managing depression and antidepressant prescribing to children and young people (in particular citalopram) and access to talking therapies. [12] [13]

John's Adolescent Data Platform, funded by MQ, is the biggest of its kind for young people's mental health. [14] [15] It brings together scientists from several universities, aiming to make it easier for young people to access quality mental health services. [15] She received an Arts Council of Wales grant to partner with an artist and help young people express what they are thinking. [16] She worked with Self-Harm Research UK (SHARE) to better understand and support people who self-harm. [17]

She developed the Wales strategy for suicide and self-harm. [3] [18] She is particularly concerned about cyberbullying and the impacts it has on young people. [19] [20] In 2018 she found victims of cyberbullying are more than twice as likely to enact suicidal behaviour. [21] [22]

In 2022 John was part of a group examining the use of machine learning in suicide prevention. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borderline personality disorder</span> Personality disorder of emotional instability

Borderline personality disorder (BPD), also known as emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), is a personality disorder characterized by a long-term pattern of intense and unstable interpersonal relationships, distorted sense of self, and strong emotional reactions. Those affected often engage in self-harm and other dangerous behaviors, often due to their difficulty with returning their emotional level to a healthy or normal baseline. They may also struggle with a feeling of emptiness, fear of abandonment, and dissociation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-harm</span> Intentional injury to ones body

Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury, and self-mutilation have been used for any self-harming behavior regardless of suicidal intent. Common forms of self-harm include damaging the skin with a sharp object or by scratching, hitting, or burning. The exact bounds of self-harm are imprecise, but generally exclude tissue damage that occurs as an unintended side-effect of eating disorders or substance abuse, as well as societally acceptable body modification such as tattoos and piercings.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people in the United States from the ages of 10 to 56.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide prevention</span> Collective efforts to reduce the incidence of suicide

Suicide prevention is a collection of efforts to reduce the risk of suicide. Suicide is often preventable, and the efforts to prevent it may occur at the individual, relationship, community, and society level. Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have long-lasting effects on individuals, families, and communities. Preventing suicide requires strategies at all levels of society. This includes prevention and protective strategies for individuals, families, and communities. Suicide can be prevented by learning the warning signs, promoting prevention and resilience, and committing to social change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidemiology of suicide</span> Worldwide incidence of suicide

An estimated 1 million people worldwide die by suicide every year. Globally, suicide ranks among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15 to 44 years. Attempted suicides are up to 20 times more frequent than completed ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicidal ideation</span> Thoughts, ideas, or ruminations about the possibility of ending ones life

Suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, is the thought process of having ideas, or ruminations about the possibility of ending one's own life. It is not a diagnosis but is a symptom of some mental disorders, use of certain psychoactive drugs, and can also occur in response to adverse life events without the presence of a mental disorder.

Chris Stevenson was an author and professor of mental health nursing at Dublin City University, where she was also head of the School of Nursing. She was appointed in 2005, having begun her career as a psychiatric nurse.

A suicide crisis, suicidal crisis or potential suicide is a situation in which a person is attempting to kill themselves or is seriously contemplating or planning to do so. It is considered by public safety authorities, medical practice, and emergency services to be a medical emergency, requiring immediate suicide intervention and emergency medical treatment. Suicidal presentations occur when an individual faces an emotional, physical, or social problem they feel they cannot overcome and considers suicide to be a solution. Clinicians usually attempt to re-frame suicidal crises, point out that suicide is not a solution and help the individual identify and solve or tolerate the problems.

Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below the legal age of majority, deliberately ends their own life. Rates of youth suicide and attempted youth suicide in Western societies and other countries are high. Youth suicide attempts are more common among girls, but adolescent males are the ones who usually carry out suicide. Suicide rates in youths have nearly tripled between the 1960s and 1980s. For example, in Australia suicide is second only to motor vehicle accidents as its leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 25.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide</span> Intentional act of causing ones own death

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse are risk factors. Some suicides are impulsive acts due to stress, relationship problems, or harassment and bullying. Those who have previously attempted suicide are at a higher risk for future attempts. Effective suicide prevention efforts include limiting access to methods of suicide such as firearms, drugs, and poisons; treating mental disorders and substance abuse; careful media reporting about suicide; and improving economic conditions. Although crisis hotlines are common resources, their effectiveness has not been well studied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Whitely</span> Australian politician

Martin Paul Whitely (born 19 October 1959 in Perth, Western Australia, is a mental health researcher, author and was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from February 2001 until he retired from state politics in March 2013. During his parliamentary and research career Whitely has been a prominent critic of increasing child mental health medication prescribing rates.

A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to die by suicide but survives. While it may be described as a "failed" or "unsuccessful" suicide attempt, mental health professionals discourage the use of these terms as they imply that a suicide resulting in death is a successful or desirable outcome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social media and suicide</span> Social medias influence on suicide

Researchers study Social media and suicide to find if a correlation exists between the two. Some research has shown that there may be a correlation.

Bullying and suicide are considered together when the cause of suicide is attributable to the victim having been bullied, either in person or via social media. Writers Neil Marr and Tim Field wrote about it in their 2001 book Bullycide: Death at Playtime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide in the United Kingdom</span> Statistics and causes of suicide in the UK (England and Wales figures only)

Suicide is a significant national social issue in the United Kingdom. In 2019 there were 5,691 registered deaths by suicide in England and Wales, equating to an average of 18 suicides per day. Suicide is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the country.

The relationship between antidepressant use and suicide risk is a subject of medical research and has faced varying levels of debate. This problem was thought to be serious enough to warrant intervention by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to label greater likelihood of suicide as a risk of using antidepressants. Some studies have shown that the use of certain antidepressants correlate with an increased risk of suicide in some patients relative to other antidepressants. However, these conclusions have faced considerable scrutiny and disagreement: A multinational European study indicated that antidepressants decrease risk of suicide at the population level, and other reviews of antidepressant use claim that there is not enough data to indicate antidepressant use increases risk of suicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide in the military</span> Suicide risks in the armed forces

Suicide in the military is the act of ending one's life during or after a career in the armed forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auto-trolling</span> Self-abuse on the Internet

Auto-trolling, self-cyberbullying, digital Munchausen or digital self-harm is a form of self-abuse on the Internet. It is usually done by teenagers posting fake insults on social media, attacking themselves to elicit attention and sympathy. A study in 2012 found that about 35 per cent of those who did this felt better. Studies in 2016 and 2019 found an increase in prevalence in American adolescents rising from 6 to 9 per cent. In a 2011 study, boys were more likely than girls to admit to digital self-bullying. In a 2022 study published by researchers Justin Patchin, Sameer Hinduja, and Ryan Meldrum, US youth who engaged in digital self-harm were between five and seven times more likely to have considered suicide and between nine and fifteen times more likely to have attempted suicide.

Anat Brunstein-Klomek is an Israeli psychologist who is an associate professor at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. She holds an adjunct position at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her research considers depression, suicide and bullying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide rates</span>

Suicide cases have remained constant or decreased since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a study done on twenty-one high and upper-middle-income countries in April–July 2020, the number of suicides has remained static. These results were attributed to a variety of factors, including the composition of mental health support, financial assistance, having families and communities work diligently to care for at-risk individuals, discovering new ways to connect through the use of technology, and having more time spent with family members which aided in the strengthening of their bonds. Despite this, there has been an increase in isolation, fear, stigma, abuse, and economic fallout as a result of COVID-19. Self-reported levels of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts were elevated during the initial stay-at-home periods, according to empirical evidence from several countries, but this does not appear to have translated into an increase in suicides.

References

  1. ↑ Mental Health Foundation
  2. ↑ Wales, The Learned Society of. "Ann John". The Learned Society of Wales. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ann John". www.swansea.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  4. ↑ Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
  5. ↑ Charing Cross and Westminster Medical Schoo
  6. ↑ "Professor Ann John | NCMH". NCMH. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  7. ↑ "Suicide and Self Harm Satellite | Cochrane Common Mental Disorders". cmd.cochrane.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  8. 1 2 "Ann John". The Conversation. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  9. ↑ "Professor Ann John". www.swansea.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  10. ↑ "Professor Ann John". www.swansea.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  11. ↑ SemiColonWeb. "Prof Ann John | PACTS". www.pacts.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  12. ↑ "Farr Institute | Using Big Data to Understand Mental Health in Young People". www.farrinstitute.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  13. ↑ Knapton, Sarah (2016-09-08). "Doctors prescribing anti-depressant drugs linked to suicidal thoughts to teens against advice, study finds". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  14. ↑ "This data platform aims to get the answers we need faster on young people's mental health". MQ: Transforming Mental Health. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  15. 1 2 "New data platform promises 'step change' in young people's mental health research". MQ: Transforming Mental Health. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  16. ↑ Youle, Richard (2017-08-21). "Young people in Swansea were asked how they felt and created these 3D images". walesonline. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  17. ↑ "Shareuk Needs Your Help Regarding Selfharm | PAPYRUS". www.papyrus-uk.org. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  18. ↑ John, Ann; Dennis, M.; Kosnes, L.; Gunnell, D.; Scourfield, J.; Ford, D. V.; Lloyd, K. (2014-11-01). "Suicide Information Database-Cymru: a protocol for a population-based, routinely collected data linkage study to explore risks and patterns of healthcare contact prior to suicide to identify opportunities for intervention". BMJ Open. 4 (11): e006780. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006780. ISSN   2044-6055. PMC   4248097 . PMID   25424996.
  19. ↑ "Professor Ann John – WISE KIDS Summit 2017". wisekidssummit.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  20. ↑ "Young victims of cyberbullying twice as likely to attempt suicide and self-harm". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  21. ↑ "Young victims of cyberbullying twice as likely to attempt suicide and self-harm, study finds". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
  22. ↑ John, Ann; Glendenning, Alexander Charles; Marchant, Amanda; Montgomery, Paul; Stewart, Anne; Wood, Sophie; Lloyd, Keith; Hawton, Keith (2018). "Self-Harm, Suicidal Behaviours, and Cyberbullying in Children and Young People: Systematic Review". Journal of Medical Internet Research. 20 (4): e129. doi: 10.2196/jmir.9044 . PMC   5934539 . PMID   29674305.
  23. ↑ Balbuena, Lloyd D.; Baetz, Marilyn; Sexton, Joseph Andrew; Harder, Douglas; Feng, Cindy Xin; Boctor, Kerstina; Lapointe, Candace; Letwiniuk, Elizabeth; Shamloo, Arash; Ishwaran, Hemant; John, Ann; Brantsæter, Anne Lise (2022). "Identifying long-term and imminent suicide predictors in a general population and a clinical sample with machine learning". BMC Psychiatry. 22 (1): 120. doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-03702-y . PMC   8848909 . PMID   35168594.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.