The Scarred Soul: Understanding and Ending Self-Inflicted Violence

This is basically a self-help book. I think it might be a little too scary for a young person just doing a little mild cutting, because it describes some severe chronic cases. It might not be of much help to a professional dealing with a severely mentally retarded or autistic self-mutilator. I bought it after reading an excellent article by Anthony Bateman in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The proper reference for that is: Bateman AW (2004) Self-help books on deliberate self-harm. British Journal of Psychiatry 185: 441-442. Bateman rated it as the best of the bunch. As he says, cutters often get more help off the internet than from books. He recommends a British site, the website of the National Self-harm Network www.nshn.co.uk. SIV victims often get more help from talking to each other than from therapists or pills. A large part of their distress comes from being ashamed of their addiction and having to hide their scars.

This book is appropriate for teens and adult. It is sensitively and sensibly written, and instead of just being a research or story book, it is loaded with insights, worksheet activities, and relevant anecdotes. It also includes information that is usually overlooked in other books: how to talk to loved ones about self-injury, what therapists and parents should know, how to explain the behavior to people who don't understand, and how to cope with triggers.

This is the best book I have read on Self Injury and how to deal with it and to eventually stop self injury. This is the book that helped me to finally get a handle on my own self injury patterns and I have now been able to go almost 4 year with self injuring. I recommend this book to EVERYONE....particualry other self injurers and their loved ones, and also to therapists. I gave a copy of this book to my therapist to use with other clients and she too has found it to be invaluable.

When I ordered this book I truly did not know to what extent it would help me but it has helped volumes! This book looks at why people use SIV (Self inflicted Violence) and also helps you learn why you or others may use it and how to stop it. "Scarred Soul," has opened up my eyes and my mind in so many new ways. With the frequency of SIV now a days this is an important book for everyone to have to help understand but especially helpful for the users of SIV. To me this book is priceless!

I bought this book for myself because I self-injure, and lent it to my therapist, a friend of mine whose daughter self-injures, and friends who know I injure and feel a need to understand. Now I have to order more copies as they want copies of their own. The scarred soul includes the all latest thinking on SIV. It is much more accurate about why people injure, and when and how they can stop than other books I have read on the subject. The writing is clear, direct and accessable. I found it hard to read through only because it so accurately describes the pain I feel. I hope it goes through many editions and becomes a standard work. If you cut or hurt yourself, or care for someone who does, this book can help you 'keep safe'.