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Loading... A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Painby Marilee Strong
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. this is a comprehensive scholarly resource on the subject of self mutilation. The research is comprehensive. It is both qualitative and quantitative. It also spa M.ns many decades. (  )crimsonglade | Oct 28, 2008 |   This is an interesting but ultimately flawed look at the phenomenon of self-mutilation as it relates to mental illness. Self-mutilation can take many forms, but the most common seem to be self-inflicted cutting and burning. It's not undertaken with an intent to commit suicide; instead, many people who cut or otherwise injure themselves believe it is one of the things that prevents them from committing suicide. There aren't that many books for the layperson on this issue, despite increased exposure in the media. This book, by a journalist, pretty much falls under the "good start" category. My biggest problem with it is that at the outset, Strong mentions that the majority of people who self-injure are women who have been sexually abused, but that a sizable minority don't fit that category. She then proceeds to completely ignore self-injury in people who have NOT been sexually abused for the rest of the book. Almost all of the theories she discusses involve PTSD and dissociative disorder brought on by sexual trauma, and she seems to have disregarded any case history that did not fit this paradigm. This ended up frustrating me a lot, and also made me wonder what other inconvenient theories and case histories she'd disregarded in favor of a tidier narrative. (  )Crowyhead | Jan 24, 2008 | A very good, detailed, informative book about self-injury. (  )Heather19 | Oct 23, 2007 | A book about self-inflicted physical wounds, considered by some to be a bit on the sensational side. More respected popular writing on this topic are "The Scarred Soul, and "Cut."" (  )ElTomaso | Jun 18, 2006 | 0.040 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0140280537, Paperback)"A bright red scream" is how one of the subjects Marilee Strong interviews in this chilling yet compassionate study of self-mutilation describes the sensation of intentionally inflicting pain upon oneself. It is a compulsion that, while shocking and bewildering to most people, affects 2 million or more Americans and countless others around the globe--one of whom, the late Princess Diana, also suffered from the eating disorders that characterize between 35 to 80 percent of all cutters. Rejecting the classic psychiatric wisdom that views self-mutilation as a species of suicidal behavior, Strong links the phenomenon instead to the will to live--often in the face of such overwhelming childhood abuse that the resulting dissociative behaviors are something akin to posttraumatic stress disorder. Strong touches on other issues as well: Why are most cutters women? And is the current fascination with tattooing and piercing, from its most extreme forms in the "alternative" culture to its growing mainstream acceptance, a sublimation of the cutters' instinct? Through interviews with more than 50 self-injurers, Strong tells the moving story not only of their rage and self-punishment, but also of the courageous journey towards reintegration. (The book also contains an introduction by psychiatrist Armando R. Favazza, author of Bodies Under Seige, one of the leading clinical experts on self-mutilation.) --Patrizia DiLucchio(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:23 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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