A SELF-harm help group says a national inquiry into the condition was only made possible after local media like the Evening Advertiser helped change public opinion.

Spear, which stands for Self Preservation Encouraging Active Response, has been running in Swindon for seven years and helps people across the country.

Founding director Sue Ozolins welcomed the first UK inquiry into the problem among young people and is looking forward to the publication of its interim report next month.

The inquiry, jointly launched by the Mental Health Foundation and the Camelot Foundation, comes in response to increasing rates of self-harm in the UK among young people.

At present, 1 in 10 young people deliberately self-harms the highest rate in Europe. The most common method involves repeatedly cutting the skin.

Sue estimates around 10,000 people in Swindon self-harm.

She said: "The Evening Advertiser was one of the first papers to start discussing self-harm.

"It was down to the publicity given to groups like ours that triggered a national interest in self-harm and hence the inquiry.

"Before that, people used to think it was something to be ashamed of. And there was little empathy for people who self-harmed, it was seen as attention seeking.

"But it is a real illness. Only 25 per cent of the people we come into contact with have had help from professional services.

"We have been saying there is an epidemic for the last four years but it is only now the government is taking notice.

"The inquiry is focusing its attention on young people which is very good because it will help prevent a lifelong addiction.

"But older people are the majority who take this action and they have not had good service when they were younger. We need to give these people attention to."

Last month a report on behalf of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) found around half of the 170,000 patients admitted to casualty units each year receive no follow-up care or psychological assessment.

It has consequently issued guidelines on how health professionals should treat people who self-harm.

Bhavani Vadde