Self-help books on deliberate self-harm

Abstract

Self-help for self-harm trips nicely off the tongue but is less easily translated into helpful, practical literature - or, indeed, into effective professional treatment. The grim truth is that there is no successful treatment for deliberate self-harm. So, people who deliberately harm themselves may well have to rely on self-help, which no longer takes a 'no nonsense, pull yourself together' attitude. Prior to 1988 there were almost no selfhelp books on deliberate self-harm but now they are published with increasing frequency, giving the behavior its own acronym of 'SIV' (self-inflicted violence) or 'SF (self-injury). The books and websites are not solely for patients. Some books like "Self-harm: Perspectives from Personal Experience" by L.R. Pembroke is a book giving graphic first-person accounts of deliberate self-harm and of the rather fumbling attempts of professionals to intervene. Another book "Healing the Hurt Within: Understand and Relieve the Suffering Behind Self-destructive Behavior" by Jan Sutton uses quotes and poems by people with personal experience of deliberate self-harm, mixed with facts and statistics to weave a comprehensive account of the meaning and understanding of this phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)