This book is open access under a CC BY license and charts the rise and fall of various self-harming behaviours in twentieth-century Britain. It puts self-cutting and overdosing into historical perspective, linking them to the huge changes that occur in mental and physical healthcare, social work and wider politics.

The monograph's focus on self-harm as a constructed part of broader changes in cultural, social and political spheres provides a welcome counterweight to other histories of self-harming behaviours that have predominantly focused on psychological and psychiatric theory and practice, and it makes a weighty contribution to our understanding of the shifting conceptual frameworks of self-harm in twentieth-century Britain. (Sarah York, Medical History, Vol. 60 (4), October, 2016)

Autorentext

Chris Millard is Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London, UK, interested in Munchasuen syndromes (including Munchausen by Proxy and Munchausen by Internet), self-harm, attempted suicide and parity of esteem in mental health. He helps run the Carnival of Lost Emotions engaging the public about the history of feelings.

Inhalt

This book is open access under a CC BY license.

Introduction: Self-Harm From Social Setting To Neurobiology

1. Early Twentieth-Century Self-Harm: Cut Throats, General And Mental Medicine
2. Communicative Self-Damage: War, NHS And Social Work
3. Self-Harm Becomes Epidemic: Mental Health (1959) And Suicide (1961) Acts
4. Self-Harm As A Result Of Domestic Distress
5. Self-Harm As Self-Cutting: Inpatients And Internal Tension
   Conclusion: The Politics Of Self-Harm: Social Setting And Self-Regulation