 Cover of the 1st edition | |
| Author | Marilee Strong |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Self-harm |
| Published | 1998 (Viking Press) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 232 |
| ISBN | 0-670-87781-6 |
| OCLC | 39281973 |
| 616.8582 | |
| LC Class | RC552 |
A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain is a 1998 non-fiction psychology book written by American journalist Marilee Strong about self-harm. Published by Viking Press, it is the first general interest book on self-harm. [1]
In 1987, American psychiatrist Armando Favazza published Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry , the first psychiatric text on the subject of self-harm. Marilee Strong was an American journalist who had spent several weeks in Mozambique on a Pulitzer Fellowship reporting on the psychological trauma experienced by children as a result of the civil war. [2] When she returned to the United States, she heard about self-harm and decided to research the subject. [2] In 1993, she wrote an article for San Francisco Focus entitled "A Bright Red Scream", part of a surge in media interest in the topic in the years following the publication of Favazza's book. [3] Strong's was the first in-depth magazine article on self-harm and was the cover story for that issue. [1] [2] To research the book, she interviewed over 50 people who intentionally harm themselves, many of them by cutting. [1] [4] She also interviewed neuroscientists, psychologists and psychiatrists, including Favazza, a recognised expert on self-harm, and Bessel van der Kolk, a specialist in posttraumatic stress disorder. [5] The title of the article and book came from an interview with a self-harmer who described the action of self-mutilation as a cry for help, calling it "a bright red scream". [6]
Millions of people in the United States regularly engage in self-harm, intentionally injuring themselves. [7] Many of them use sharp objects such as knives, razors or broken glass to cut themselves. [7] Strong set out to find the meaning behind this intentional self-harm, exploring related fields of research like child abuse, addiction and posttraumatic stress disorder. [5]
Charles R. Swenson reviewed the book for American Psychiatric Association journal Psychiatric Services . He called it "an illuminating and compassionate book" and said that the "greatest strength of this book is journalistic." [4] Regarding Strong's focus on the childhood psychological trauma experienced by many cutters, he criticised her for neglecting "the nearly 50 percent of self-mutilating individuals who do not report trauma histories". [4] Writing for Time , Tamala M. Edwards called it "a compelling tour of the trauma and science of self-injury". [8]
Stigmata, in Christianity, are the appearance of bodily wounds, scars and pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, such as the hands, wrists, and feet.
Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder (MPD) and colloquially known as split personality disorder, is a mental disorder characterized by the maintenance of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states. The disorder is accompanied by memory gaps beyond what would be explained by ordinary memory issues. The personality states alternately show in a person's behavior; however, presentations of the disorder vary. Other conditions that often occur in people with DID include post-traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, depression, substance use disorders, conversion disorder, somatic symptom disorder, eating disorders, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and sleep disorders. Self-harm, non-epileptic seizures, flashbacks with amnesia for content of flashbacks, anxiety disorders, and suicidality are also common.
Factitious disorder imposed on self, also known as Munchausen syndrome, is a factitious disorder where those affected feign or induce disease, illness, injury, abuse, or psychological trauma to draw attention, sympathy, or reassurance to themselves. Munchausen syndrome fits within the subclass of factitious disorder with predominantly physical signs and symptoms, but patients also have a history of recurrent hospitalization, travelling, and dramatic, extremely improbable tales of their past experiences. The condition derives its name from the fictional character Baron Munchausen.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a person's life. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in the way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event. Young children are less likely to show distress but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm.
Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilation have been used for any self-harming behavior regardless of suicidal intent.. It is not same as masochism as no sexual or non sexual pleasure obtained. The most common form of self-harm is using a sharp object to cut the skin. Other forms include scratching, hitting, or burning body parts. While earlier usage included interfering with wound healing, excessive skin-picking, hair-pulling, and the ingestion of toxins, current usage distinguishes these behaviors from self-harm. Likewise, tissue damage from drug abuse or eating disorders is not considered self-harm because it is ordinarily an unintended side-effect.
Frank A. Gerbode wrote of a method known as traumatic incident reduction (TIR). He is an Honors graduate of Stanford University and later pursued graduate studies in philosophy at Cambridge University. He received his medical degree from Yale University, and completed a psychiatric residency at Stanford University Medical Center in the early 1970s.
Psychological trauma or mental trauma is an emotional response to a distressing event or series of events, such as accidents, rape or natural disasters. Reactions such as psychological shock and psychological denial are typical. Longer-term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, difficulties with interpersonal relationships and sometimes physical symptoms including headaches or nausea.
Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, was an Italian Carmelite nun and mystic. She has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder is a proposed psychological disorder that is theorized to develop in response to exposure to a series of traumatic events in a context in which the individual perceives little or no chance of escape, and particularly where the exposure is prolonged or repetitive. It is not yet recognized by the American Psychiatric Association or the DSM-5 as a valid disorder. In addition to the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an individual with C-PTSD experiences emotional dysregulation, negative self-beliefs and feelings of shame, guilt or failure regarding the trauma, and interpersonal difficulties. C-PTSD relates to the trauma model of mental disorders and is associated with chronic sexual, psychological, and physical abuse or neglect, or chronic intimate partner violence, victims of kidnapping and hostage situations, indentured servants, victims of slavery and human trafficking, sweatshop workers, prisoners of war, concentration camp survivors, and prisoners kept in solitary confinement for a long period of time, or defectors from authoritarian religions. Situations involving captivity/entrapment can lead to C-PTSD-like symptoms, which can include prolonged feelings of terror, worthlessness, helplessness, and deformation of one's identity and sense of self.
A scream is a loud vocalization in which air is passed through the vocal cords with greater force than is used in regular or close-distance vocalisation. This can be performed by any creature possessing lungs, including humans.
Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry is a book written by psychiatrist Dr. Armando Favazza, and published in 1987.
The Icarus Project was a media and activist endeavor broadly aligned to the anti-psychiatry movement and recovery approach, arguing that mental illness should be understood as an issue of social justice and that a person's mental state can improve through greater social support and collective liberation. It shares similarities with the academic fields of Psychopolitics and Mad Studies. The name is derived from Icarus, a hero in Greek mythology, and is metaphorically used to convey that the experiences of mental distress and other extreme mental states can lead to "potential[ly] flying dangerously close to the sun."
Armando Favazza is an American author and psychiatrist best known for his studies of cultural psychiatry, deliberate self-harm, and religion. Favazza's Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry (1987) was an early psychiatric book on this topic. His 2004 work, PsychoBible: Behavior, Religion, and the Holy Book presents objective data regarding commonly held misconceptions about the Bible as a whole as well as its major passages. In Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry he has written the chapter on "Anthropology and Psychiatry" in the 3rd edition (1980), the 4th edition (1985) and the 8th edition (2005), as well as the chapter on "Spirituality and Psychiatry" in the 9th edition (2009). He has published two cover articles in the American Journal of Psychiatry: "Foundations of Cultural Psychiatry" [135:293-303,1978] and "Modern Christian Healing of Mental Illness" [139:728-735,1982]. In 1979 he co-founded The Society for the Study of Culture and Psychiatry.
Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse, witnessing abuse of a sibling or parent, or having a mentally ill parent. These events have profound psychological, physiological, and sociological impacts and can have negative, lasting effects on health and well-being such as unsocial behaviors, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and sleep disturbances. Similarly, children with mothers who have experienced traumatic or stressful events during pregnancy can increase the child's risk of mental health disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 1998 study on adverse childhood experiences determined that traumatic experiences during childhood are a root cause of many social, emotional, and cognitive impairments that lead to increased risk of unhealthy self-destructive behaviors, risk of violence or re-victimization, chronic health conditions, low life potential and premature mortality. As the number of adverse experiences increases, the risk of problems from childhood through adulthood also rises. Nearly 30 years of study following the initial study has confirmed this. Many states, health providers, and other groups now routinely screen parents and children for ACEs.
Grief counseling is a form of psychotherapy that aims to help people cope with the physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and cognitive responses to loss. These experiences are commonly thought to be brought on by a loved person's death, but may more broadly be understood as shaped by any significant life-altering loss.
Self-embedding is the insertion of foreign objects either into soft tissues under the skin or into muscle. Self-embedding is typically considered deliberate self-harm, also known as nonsuicidal self-injury, which is defined as "deliberate, direct destruction of tissues without suicidal intent."
50 Signs of Mental Illness: A Guide to Understanding Mental Health is a 2005 book by psychiatrist James Whitney Hicks published by Yale University Press. The book is designed as an accessible psychiatric reference for non-professionals that describes symptoms, treatments and strategies for understanding mental health.
Psychopathography of Adolf Hitler is an umbrella term for psychiatric literature that deals with the hypothesis that Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, was mentally ill, although Hitler was never diagnosed with any mental illnesses during his lifetime. Hitler has often been associated with mental disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and psychopathy, both during his lifetime and after his death. Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts who have diagnosed Hitler as having mental disturbance include well-known figures such as Walter C. Langer and Erich Fromm. Other researchers, such as Fritz Redlich, have concluded that Hitler probably did not have these disorders.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a cognitive disorder, which may occur after a traumatic event. It is a psychiatric disorder, which may occur across athletes at all levels of sport participation.
Trauma-sensitive yoga is yoga as exercise, adapted from 2002 onwards for work with individuals affected by psychological trauma. Its goal is to help trauma survivors to develop a greater sense of mind-body connection, to ease their physiological experiences of trauma, to gain a greater sense of ownership over their bodies, and to augment their overall well-being. However, a 2019 systematic review found that the studies to date were not sufficiently robustly designed to provide strong evidence of yoga's effectiveness as a therapy; it called for further research.