Description
Book SynopsisCutting, burning, branding, and bone-breaking are all types of self-injury, or the deliberate, non-suicidal destruction of one's own body tissue, a practice that emerged from obscurity in the 1990s and spread dramatically as a typical behavior among adolescents. This book presents a portrait of this troubling behavior.
Trade Reviewsuccessfully gives a face to self-injury and how it fits into the larger realm of social understating * J Youth Adolescence *
Timely, importantIn their thorough treatment of the subject, the authors include a history and literature review of this difficult topic, discussions of case histories, and examinations of relational dynamics and social contexts that may lead to cuttingThis is a must read for those connected in any way to this topic * Library Journal *
The Tender Cut is an exhaustive, compelling...sociological study. * Metapsychology *
The Tender Cut presents a comprehensive discussion of self-injury through a sociological lens...[it] will be...relevant to other people providing support and advice to people who self-harm. -- Emily Klineberg * Sociology of Health & Illness *
Adler and Adler's expansive work draws in and integrates multiple perspectives and addresses timely and important issues in the field of self-injury. -- Stephen P. Lewis + Michele L. Davis * Contemporary Psychology *
Insightful and sympatheticThe extraordinary depth of knowledge of the dimensions of self-injuring will increase the understanding of those who see self-injurers in their work and private lives. -- Ruth Horowitz,author of Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano Community
Adler viewsself-harm as a kind of 'self-help', rather than a near-suicidal expression. -- Emine Saner * The Guardian *
But more than a compendium of personal accounts, The Tender Cut charts self-injury's shift from a behavior regarded as pathological and practiced by demonstrably mentally ill to a more widely accepted coping mechanism and a vehicle for the assertion of will or identity...thought-provoking books sheds a many-rayed light on a topic often shrouded in darkness. -- Haili Jones Graff * Bitch Magazine *
Social, psychological and cultural insights abound in this recommendation for college-level health holdings. * The Midwest Book Review *
