Women Living With Self-Injury [Hardcover]

Jane Hyman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 1999

They cut their arms and legs with knives and razors, scratch at their skin, burn, bruise, or stick themselves with cigarettes, hammers, pins and other objects, bang their heads and limbs, and break their own bones. Although women who live with self-injury have recently gained recognition in the media they have, as a result, become even more stigmatized. In this book, author Jane Wegscheider Hyman sheds light on this misunderstood condition. Fifteen women talk about their battle with self-injury and explain how and why they repeatedly and deliberately injure themselves. Most admit they do it because it makes them feel high or safe. They also describe living with ceaseless shame, secrecy, and fear of discovery that could make them unemployable and ostracized. Candidly discussing their attempted and successful recoveries, they reveal the impact living with self-injury has on their day-to-day lives, where they are competent workers, partners, friends, and mothers. Hear the voices of these women, as they speak to a public that generally sees self-injury as frightening, senseless, and repulsive. Concealing any resulting scars or other signs of injury is crucial for them and partly dictates their daily routines, choice of clothes, and appropriate lies to excuse any traces of injury. For these productive women who work outside of the home and often raise children, hiding self-injury is of paramount importance during their workdays and in their relationships with partners, families, and friends. Hyman's approach is unique in that she not only talked to these women, but she really listened to their stories, something rare in the misunderstood realm of self-injury. Professionals, perplexed by self-injury, have not always tolerated its complexity. As a result those who injure themselves have remained shrouded in secrecy, isolation, and shame until now. This book offers compassion as well as encouragement for recovery, by making available the emotional experiences of sufferers in their own words. It is an important book for those who self-injure, their loved ones, anyone who knows of or suspects self-injury in a friend, and mental care professionals. Author note: Jane Wegscheider Hyman, Ph.D., a researcher and writer on women's health, contributed to both "Ourselves", "Growing Older" and "The New Our Bodies, Ourselves". She is author of two other books. Over the years, her interest has shifted from physical to mental health, partly through her own experiences with obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, and partly because of her prior work on seasonal affective disorder, anorexia, and bulimia. During her graduate studies in psychology, she specialized in mental health problems that primarily afflicted women.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hyman describes the complexities and paradoxes of self-injury with remarkable fidelity to the lived experiences of those she interviewed. Her clear and resounding message is that acceptance and understanding lay the groundwork for healing and growth. This book will richly reward those whose hearts and minds are open to the call." -- William Kadish, Medical Director of the Psychiatry and Addictions Service, Marlborough Hospital, Marlborough, MA

About the Author

Jane Wegscheider Hyman, Ph.D., a researcher and writer on women's health, contributed to both Ourselves, Growing Older and The New Our Bodies, Ourselves. She is author of two other books. Over the years, her interest has shifted from physical to mental health, partly through her own experiences with obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, and partly because of her prior work on seasonal affective disorder, anorexia, and bulimia. During her graduate studies in psychology, she specialized in mental health problems that primarily afflicted women.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press (September 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566397200
• ISBN-13: 978-1566397209
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,716,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No longer alone, February 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Women Living With Self-Injury (Paperback)

I respect what the previous reviewer wrote about triggering. But for me, the possibility of triggering is outweighed by the realization that I am not alone in dealing with this issue in my life. I saw real hope in the words of women who have to a greater or lesser degree found ways to creatively deal with lessening or eliminating self-injury in their lives. I spent decades believing I was alone in this struggle.

If you use self-injury in your life, you will find yourself saying "She's just like me!" countless times. Being able to do this is a great relief.

I learned that self-injury is in fact a creative method of dealing with intolerable situations, and I realized that it in fact served a valuable, LIFE SAVING purpose in my life. I know this sounds absurd to people who cannot imagine self-injury at all, but believe me, please, it is true. I also learned that its value to me properly diminished as I acquired new, safer ways to deal with the overwhelming memories of my past. This book, in combination with therapy, gave me ideas and tools for retiring my old, dangerous, yet valuable ways of dealing with my feelings.

Thanks to Jane Wegscheider Hyman and the fifteen women she interviewed.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning, February 12, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Women Living With Self-Injury (Paperback)

For those that self injure this book can be very triggering. It put words into what you can not feel. It brings reality to your sense of dismay. If you don't self injure it may bring a better understanding to what one metally goes through prior to self injury. There is a part of the book where someone is describing the the overwhelming need to self injury. They compare it to walking in a desert and the powerful urge of needing water. When you get to the well full of water people say, no, don't drink it. You think if you dont get that darn water your gonna die! That's the urge to self harm! The Book is good and had several lightbulb moments for me. I am now using it as a guide with my Therapist to talk about the abuse in the past and present.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HIGHLY recommended - one of the best books on the topic, August 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Women Living With Self-Injury (Paperback)

As someone who has self injured for over 25 years (since age 5), this was THE book that helped me to start coming out of my denial and being able to seek help. While it can be triggering, it is outweighed by the number of "ahhhh haaa's" one get's from reading it. It was very enlightening and helped me to reduce the shame I'd experienced, enough that I could finally seek help. One thing ESPECIALLY unique about this book is that it does not limit itself to cutting and burning - it deals with all forms of self injury - something that FEW books on the topic of self injury do. If you are looking to buy just one book on the topic, let this be it...