Cutting: Understanding and Overcoming Self-Mutilation

Format: Paperback Language: English ISBN: 0393319385 ISBN13: 9780393319385 Release Date: September 1998 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Length: 288 Pages Weight: 0.63 lbs. Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 8.0" Nearly a decade ago, Cutting boldly addressed a traumatic psychological disorder now affecting as many as two million Americans and one in fifty adolescents. More than that, it revealed self-mutilation as a comprehensible, treatable disorder, no longer to be evaded by the public and neglected by professionals. Using copious examples from his practice, Steven Levenkron traces the factors that predispose a personality to self-mutilation: genetics, family experience, childhood trauma, and parental behavior. Written for sufferers, parents, friends, and therapists, Cutting explains why the disorder manifests in self-harming behaviors and describes how patients can be helped.