Women Living with Self-Injury

by Jane Wegscheider Hyman

Book Overview

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 anda limbs; and break... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566397219
• ISBN13: 9781566397216
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Greatly recommended - one of two best books on the topic

In this book, Jane Wegscheider Hyman interviewed fifteen women who self-injure themselves to learn more about their battle with self-injury and explain how and why they continually and intentionally injure themselves. This is a fantastic and informing piece of work. Hyman has obviously done a great deal of work over a period of time. The women talk about their pasts, reasons for their self-injury, and troubles associated with it and their hopes of recovery. Hyman is not only very educated in this field but she also is very compassionate about the women's stories and situations. This is an excellent source of information, and along with, A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain by Marilee Strong, they are the best books on the subject matter. I greatly suggest this book for those who self-injure, those who know someone who does and professionals that care for them.

HIGHLY recommended - one of the best books on the topic

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...

Healing

This book has been a very healing guide for me. Not only from reading it, but also from being one of the 15 who participated in its writing. Reading back now on my own words has given me continued encouragement and hope. Jane did such a wonderful job of being a voice for me and the 14 others who interviewed. I didn't feel like I was ever heard when I expressed my emotions, and when I expressed them through self-injury, I usually got negative feedback. I feel Jane has allowed me to be heard, but this time it is through feedback that has contributed to the healthy lifestyle I live with today. God bless you Jane.

No longer alone

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.

Warning

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.