Customer Reviews

Bodies under Siege: Self-mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Bodies Under Siege is the first book on self-injury that I've read, and I have to say that I am most impressed. After hearing so much about books that are critical or accusatory or simply wrong, I believe that Bodies Under Siege somehow manages to find a happy accommodation between technical explanation and useful information. It falls somewhere between an anthropology textbook and a self help/diagnostic manual, and the author takes a different and refreshing approach to this controversial subject by not focusing solely on self-injury as a symptom of a psychological disorder. Instead Favazza describes self-injurious practices from cultures all over the world, past and present, including ours. By considering the natives of New Guinea who cut off a finger as a way of mourning the death of a loved one, and modern teens with tattoos and multiple piercings, and a psychotic individual who blinded himself, Favazza clarifies the line between culturally sanctioned self-injury and its pathological counterpart.

In the first two sections of the book, the author focuses on defining culturally sanctioned self-injury, and uses various exemplary cultural and clinical case studies to illustrate his points. Both of these sections are interesting and informative, especially if you like learning about lots of very different cultures. These chapters are careful to incorporate facts about pathological self injury, which become relevant information even though not directly related to the kind of self-injury that most people are likely to see. The last section deals with pathological self-injury, self-injury that is a symptom of other disorders. Favazza here introduces his theory that symptomatic self-injury can progress and eventually become a disorder in and of itself, a theory that has many valid aspects but is still not accepted by most of the psychological community. While the first parts of the book were interesting from an academic point of view, it was the last section that I as a self-injurer found most helpful. Favazza defines and discusses the surprisingly large number of different kinds of self-injury, the circumstances under which each is most likely to occur, and the various techniques that he uses to help people overcome this little-known problem.

The entire book is very graphic and detailed, and therefore has the potential to be very triggering. Even so I enjoyed this book thoroughly and I look forward to reading more by this cultural psychiatrist.

Many people look at this book to be designed solely for sufferers...it isn't. As it states, it discusses Self-Mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry. It uses case studies to illustrate this point.

Now, it can be a very graphic book, and is not for the weak-stomached. I would say that unless you're interested in some of the stuff in it, skip the sections that don't apply to you.

It's an extremely informative book. It is not meant to be a personal book, like A Bright Red Scream, Cutting, or Skin Game. It's more to explain why self-mutilators do what they do.

If you want explanations, read this book.

While this book may not work quite as well as therapy, it is helpful as a resource for sufferers and their friends and family. A very good friend of mine is a self mutilator, and we scour the markets looking for good books on the subject. Favazza's book tend to be more for professionals in the fields of medicine, but a little knowledge can go a long way. The extensive research is a bit wordy, but fascinating. Skimming can pick out the best parts. It gives a good basis for comparison, while not locking a sufferer into a concrete explanation that could alienate someone looking for help. The body modification chapter was added for later editions, and is not quite as together as the rest of the book, but still interesting. Bodies Under Siege is more useful than many of its contemporaries that package self mutilation as a phase for young people. It provides an enormous range of research and information and reasons that make it so different from Cutting, which alienates readers from outside it's circle. The mass of cases help a sufferer identify and ease their alienation from others. Overall, one of the best books on cutting I've read.

This is the second edition of Bodies under Siege, and in it Favazza improves an excellent survey of self-mutilation by adding extensive material on classification and treatment of self-injurious behavior. The original edition was probably the first important book on this topic. Part one is a fascinating sociological overview of mutilative behavior in society and religion, placing it in context. Favazza explores the links between cannibalism, self-injury, and eating disorders in this section. You can understand SI without knowing this information, but the context is useful. In part two, he looks at specific clinical cases of self-mutilation. Having read this section, I was able to much more easily understand the distinctions between types of self-injury that Favazza draws in part three. The epilogue, combined with the information in part three, helped me to understand where the line between self-injury and ornamental body modification lies. Those who self-injure will probably be most interested in part three, where Favazza explores the types of pathological self-injury and discusses psychiatric classifications and treatment. Bodies under Siege is not meant as a self-help book. It will, however, give you insight into the origins of self-injury and into the ways in which the psychiatric profession views this behavior (and how those views are slowly changing), as well as suggesting directions for those seeking treatment.

Although this book provided a lot of information about self injury, I felt that it was more geared towards doctors/therapists than to people who hurt themselves. I found it very technical and a little impersonal. It offered so many different possible explanation for self injury that all it actually ended up saying was that no one really knows why people deliberately hurt themselves. I also didn't like the way it referred to self injury as "self mutilation" throughout the book. It is too harsh a term, and not one that sufferers like to use or hear. Overall, the book gives much information about self injury, some of it very scientific, but it is not the best choice if you are a person who hurts yourself.

This guy completely missed it. He attempted to relate/equate self-mutilation to/with many unrelated cultural practices. If you are looking for a book about self-mutilation that has any insight about this multifaceted and deeply emotionally complex concept, this is not it. I read it when it first came out. The author was a doctor at UMC where I earned three degrees, including a Master's in Counseling Psychology. I met with this man, a dangerous cutter myself at the time, and his presentation was as judgemental, cold and clueless as his book. What a sad disappointment when simple hope was needed.

I've been cutting myself for many years, and have read books on the subject for a number of those years. This is by far one of the best I've read for Favazza does an extremely deep study into the history of self-injury, both cultural forms and what he terms "deviant" forms. While not as entertaining as "A Bright Red Scream," and definately more scholarly than most books on the subject, I still consider it essential for those who cut or the loved ones of those who cut. However, it isn't so much a personal or supportive book, and will mostly trigger more cutters than it will help. The only reason I give it four stars instead of five though is because of some of the misconceptions that even the author shows, such as relating self-injury to body piercing and such (which he has already gotten some heat about already.) I also don't like the terms "mentally ill," "wrist slashers," " slicers," etc. as words for those who cut. I also found the first few pages of chapter 11 very hard to read for similar reasons.

I found this book to be extremely informative and will use it as significant reference in my profession. I will also recommend this book to other interested parties.

This book makes a clear and deliberate attempt to bring the long-taboo topic of self-mutilation to light, and its efforts are commendable. However, Favazza focuses far too much on psychological abnormalities, physical atrocities, and cultural practices to serve justice to the many self-mutilators looking to find support through this work.

Self-mutilation is not, as Favazza would lead one to believe, an extraordinarily rare or grotesque practice. Many sane and "normal" people commit acts of harm against themselves every day, for various reasons. But, in the pages of "Bodies Under Seige," only extreme and rare medical cases are cited, giving the impression that this affliction is truly horrific. This only pushes suffering self-mutilators farther into the closet. This topic is still taboo and probably more so than it was before, when people knew nothing.

Also, "Bodies Under Seige" focuses too much on cultural implecations and rationalizations for self-mutilation. In actuality, most of these practices are not inflicted by oenself, but by a priest or leader of a tribe (as it is usually referred to in the context of a primitive practice). Thus, the term "Self-mutilation" becomes obsolete.

In short, if you are looking for support for self-mutilative practices, this book will only lead you to believe that you are even more crazy than you already feel. Yet this is a psychologically and culturally valuable book, if you seek extremes rather than a less exciting reality.

This book is not strictly for folks who have self-injury related issues & may want insight into their disorder. I saw this piece as more of a tool for people who are curious & don't know much about self-harm & body modification. This book can be somewhat graphic in detail so if you're a bit on the sqeamish side you may want to pass.