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Author: Marilee Strong
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ISBN: 0140280537
Description: "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.
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