Speaker
Presentation in English
JOHAN BJUREBERG
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTE. SWEDEN
Johan Bjureberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. He earned his MSc in Psychology from Uppsala University and his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Karolinska Institutet, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, USA.
His research focuses on understanding and preventing youth mental health problems, with particular emphasis on self-injury and suicide. He leads a research group working at the intersection of clinical, experimental, and epidemiological science, integrating population-based and longitudinal research with experimental approaches to identify mechanisms underlying self-harm and suicidal behavior.
Prof. Bjureberg has contributed theoretical advances in emotion regulation and has developed and evaluated mechanism-driven interventions that actively involve families and caregivers. These treatments are delivered across formats, including in-person and digital platforms, and target both acute risk and longer-term vulnerability. His work emphasizes precision in intervention timing and intensity, with the aim of advancing scalable, personalized, and developmentally informed treatments for youth at risk.
Understanding and Treating Youth Self-Harm: From Mechanisms to Precision Interventions
Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death among young people worldwide, and self-harm is a major risk factor for subsequent suicide attempts and suicide death. Beyond its immediate risks, self-harm is associated with substantial psychiatric and developmental burden. In this presentation, Prof. Bjureberg will present recent population-based findings on youth self-harm, highlighting emerging trends among boys and identifying key distal and proximal risk factors, including access to lethal means, pain perception, reinforcement processes, parental support and monitoring, and difficulties in emotion regulation. Together, these findings provide a foundation for more targeted and developmentally informed intervention strategies.
The presentation centers on recent advances in clinical interventions for self-harm and suicidal behavior in youth. Prof. Bjureberg will review findings across treatment modalities, levels of intensity, and timing of delivery, including both brief and more comprehensive therapeutic approaches delivered across care settings. Particular emphasis will be placed on mechanisms of action and on precision in treatment selection and timing, with the aim of better matching interventions to individual risk profiles.
The talk will conclude by outlining key challenges and future directions in the clinical treatment of self-harm and suicidal behavior in youth.
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