Managing Self-Harm : Psychological Perspectives

Self-harm often arises at moments of despair, or intensity and its reasons are not necessarily available to the conscious mind. Managing Self Harm explores unconscious meanings for self-harming and the sense in which it is a language of the body, and is designed to help clinicians, people who self-harm and their families and carers to understand its causes, meaning and treatment. Each chapter integrates theory along with clinical illustration, enabling the direct experiences of those who self-harm to be heard and reflecting the populations that are most likely to self-harm. The contributors are drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, including clinical psychology, psychotherapy, group analysis and psychiatric nursing. Areas of discussion include: self-harm and young people in foster care and residential settings self-harm in women's secure services self-harm in people diagnosed with personality disorder. This book does not offer a prescription for self-harm cessation but rather describes therapeutic approaches to working with self-harm, and outlines the complex, subtle and meaningful interactions between those who engage in self-harm and those who seek to understand it. With a specialist interest in women's self harm, Managing Self Harm will be essential reading to all mental health professionals including clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and social workers.