Up to 60,000 people self-harmed in Ireland last year, a conference on suicide prevention in Sligo heard today.
The Irish Association of Suicidology (IAS) said casualty units recorded 12,000 cases. However, it estimated that the real figure could be five times as high.
President Mary McAleese told the conference that suicide, attempted suicide and self-harming behaviour are a serious public health problem.
"You are dealing with a complex phenomenon and one-size-fits-all solutions are no solutions at all, which is why a broad spectrum, cross-disciplinary, multi-sectoral approach is so essential if we are to have any reasonable chance of reducing the suicide and self-harm statistics," she said.
The campaign group's conference was also told that people suffering deliberate self-harm - especially repeat patients - were treated poorly in hospital compared with others with purely physical conditions.
Oxford University Professor Keith Hawton said hospital staff tended to view patients who injured themselves in a poor light. He said there was clear evidence that brief psychological therapy can help prevent repeat self-harm and reduce levels of depression, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts.
"Furthermore, hospital staff's knowledge about deliberate self-harm patients and their risk of suicide is often limited," he said. "Training programmes have been shown to benefit knowledge and attitudes."
The professor of psychiatry and director of the centre for suicide research at Oxford said the findings were revealed in a worldwide systematic review of deliberate self-harm services.
The IAS is holding its 14th annual conference.