Psyche on the Skin: A History of Self-Harm

by Sarah Chaney

It’s a troubling phenomenon that many of us think of as a modern psychological epidemic, a symptom of extreme emotional turmoil in young people, especially young cutting and self-harm. But few of us know that it was 150 years ago—with the introduction of institutional asylum psychiatry—that self-mutilation was first described as a category of behavior, which psychiatrists, and later psychologists and social workers, attempted to understand. With care and focus, Psyche on the Skin tells the secret but necessary history of self-harm from the 1860s to the present, showing just how deeply entrenched this practice is in human culture.

Sarah Chaney looks at many different kinds of self-injurious acts, including sexual self-mutilation and hysterical malingering in the late Victorian period, self-marking religious sects, and self-mutilation and self-destruction in art, music, and popular culture. As she shows, while self-harm is a widespread phenomenon found in many different contexts, it doesn’t necessarily have any kind of universal meaning—it always has to be understood within the historical and cultural context that surrounds it. Bravely sharing her own personal experiences with self-harm and placing them within its wider history, Chaney offers a sensitive but engaging account—supported with powerful images—that challenges the misconceptions and controversies that surround this often misunderstood phenomenon. The result is crucial reading for therapists and other professionals in the field, as well as those affected by this emotive, challenging act.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mental Health, Psychology, History, Mental Illness

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2017

Reviews

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author sheds light to some of the darkest corners of recent medical history, and in this way Psyche on the Skin falls into the same category with some of the most accomplished works in this category. What sets this book apart in achievement, however, is its ability to draw from medical models, historical attitudes and other phenomena through the ages while staying refreshingly critical on every page. This establishes an important dialogue between reader and the text, and for sure there is a lot that anyone can learn from this book. This often goes beyond the facts to the most precious ammunition for informed critical thinking. In addition, rather typical, important questions are raised, among these questions about psychiatry's ability to become a prison for both medical treatment and the governing perceptions regarding controversial phenomena. Eventually the book as a whole repeats an age-old notion with some extra insight and creativity: history will always repeat itself, but only if we allow it to happen.

[Astrid Jakobs · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

An interesting psychological look at the historical context and explanations for self-harm. This isn't an in-depth psychological understanding for the reasons of self-harm, but more a historical contextualization of how self-harm and self-injurious acts were viewed throughout history.

Anyone reading this book for help with their own self-harming behaviours or seeking to understand and help others with self-harm behaviours will be disappointed and this book seems to be more a historical undertaking than an explanation of any kind.

It's a bit dry and reads exactly like a dissertation, but it's interesting nonetheless.

[Evelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book detailing history of self-harm and different perspectives towards it. Quite chronological and explanatory in terms of psychiatry-driven services. My favourite chapter was about the rise of self-harm on the internet and the invention of “trigger warning”.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is truly fascinating. It gives a perspective on self-harm and psychiatry that I had not considered before. It broke a 3 year long readers block. I genuinely thought I would never read properly again, that was, until I picked up Psyche On The Skin.

It begins in the ‘pre-history’ of psychiatry, and how self-mutilation took form through religious (Pagan and early Christian) rituals of genital mutilation. Chaney explains how important this tradition was to these cultures, and their reluctance to give this up. She also points out that the reader needs to give up our modern view on almost everything; specifically within the first few chapters, our view on gender and sexuality, as we discuss the eunuchs and other ‘non-binary’ cultural identities.

Chaney does a very good job of separating modern views on the subject herself, discussing matters in a fairly unbiased way. However, it is clear from the very beginning that she has had many negative experiences with doctors, but she does not let this get in the way of stating facts. She reminds us on the constantly changing definitions within psychiatry, due to the field really just being in its early days, and doesn’t let her opinion on how these things should be defined get in the way of her writing.

My personal favourite chapter was by far the last. Firstly, the chapter name ‘Trigger Happy’ was absolutely genius, I must have sat there laughing for a solid 10 minutes.

As a young person who struggles with self-harm and anorexia, and has unrestricted access to the internet, I have spent a lot of time on some ‘interesting’ websites. I view these websites as hugely supportive, despite their ‘pro’ status, and this is the absolute opposite of what the general public and many medical professionals think. It was refreshing to see a new take on how these websites affect us, and someone actually taking the community aspect of these websites into consideration. It was also very nice to see someone disputing the ‘contagiousness’ of self-harm.

The conclusion was also beautiful. It opened my eyes to things about my own self-harm that I already knew, but hadn’t yet put into words. “...scars seemed to speak louder than anything else I had to say.” I am not even sure how to explain how this made me feel: It just made so many things make sense.

Overall: This is a must-read if you struggle with self-harm. By giving context to the modern field of psychiatry, it explains why things are the way they are.

[Daniel Oram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading this very interesting and well written book on the history of self-harm.
For me the central themes and the historical tour de force of self-harm is an excellent text and hits upon many core topics such as the genderisation of certain self-harm methods.
The connection of cutting for example amongst white middle-class women is hardly bulletproof and the book illustrates the flaws in methodology which led to this assumption.
My only disagreement with the author would be with her bitter critique of the methods of psychiatry which while not perfect certainly aids with many issues and which provides much comfort to people.
I sense an impatience with the methods of psychotherapy from the author and I too find psychotherapy as invented by Freud to be deeply problematic given its unfalsfiable nature.

Overall this book is incredibly thought-provoking and I cannot wait to read more by the author who seems to have written a true tour de force on a subject which should hardly be taboo given its influence on not only many millions around the world but also on the author of this review.

My rating 9/10

[Lee]

It says it's a history, but I kind of expected it to be more therapeutic in its analysis and exploration. It wasn't really, and overall it wasn't really very impactful or interesting for what I was looking for. But from a historian's perspective, it's not a bad read.

[Svetlana · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not a bad book, it's just not what I expected. It's more about history rather than psychology.

[Lady X · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a total fangirl. Love this book.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book fixed my readers block! I can read again!!

Chaney makes some amazing points on how the history of psychiatry affects the modern field. I felt that it was less about teaching history and more about adding context.

I loved the last chapter where she linked the history with the modern world, and it was interesting to see how deep the connections are.

The conclusion was beautiful. It put many of my own views on my own self-harm into words. She talks of self-harm as a communication device, which I had never considered before but absolutely agree with. "Scars seemed to speak louder than anything else I had to say".

I'm glad that Chaney discussed the failures of the modern system rather than treating it as a perfect, omnipotent thing.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. Although it's title says "A History of Self-Harm", I wasn't expecting that the whole book was only going to be talking about it's history...

I was hoping for a mix of history, with current personal insights about not only their experience's, but how we can best help our youth work through it presently.
That said, if you are a CYC who also enjoys learning about the history of a diagnosis. Then by all means, ignore my rating

[Mills College Library]

616.8582 C4562 2017