Rating: 
Summary: A tough but valuable book
Review: This book is really a tough one. After the forward and the preface is a short poem by some one that does cut... I'm not going to re-write it here for obvious copyright reasons. The theme of the poem is matching the feelings on the inside to what is on the outside. And for alot of people I think that that sums up the whole cutting issue. Its a very hard book to read for anyone who is close to this topic. It will trigger you, I have no doubt, if abuse issues are close to the surface for you. It triggered me. I had to start and stop this book multiple times before getting to the end. Truthfully, I'm not really sure I have gotten through the whole book, I only know I reached the end of it. It has an interesting mix of professional detachment and painful personal accounts. Sometimes it is almost difficult to reconcile that they are in the same books. At times the *painful* just is around the next page and you aren't quite expecting it. I would say that a great deal of stability would need to already have been achieved PRIOR to reading this book. And if you had a personal history of cutting... the longer ago it was...probably the better. This would be a very hard book to recommend to someone who is actively doing it. I could see how reading it would give them insight but I don't think that they could acheive the amount of detachment from the book they would need to absorb it without being triggered. This book, no doubt, is important. It invokes a feeling of community and of not being alone in behavours that tend to be very solitary. And also of hope and profound healing for me. All that said, you have to be ready to read this book. Be very gentle with your self always.
Rating:
Summary: finally understood!?
Review: a warning: this book CAN be a trigger. for you self-injurers, i'd like to reiterate another reviewer's warning that you should be careful in reading it. this book makes me feel understood. it includes my age group and actually made me feel BETTER about myself when/after reading it. most self-injurers, the book says, are intelligent women. how better to start the book off than with a compliment? it resonated well. the book uses anectodal text as well as very thorough information from therapists, doctors and other "degrees". it helped me to understand why i do this (though i really already knew), that i am not really bizarre or alone and that SOMEONE can understand me. that was a relief. i know many people who have self-injured, but very few, if any, who have done it continuously over a number of years. perhaps it is the difference in gender that separates this book from levenkron's "cutting", but i feel better understood as well as validated. i am someone. i am not my disease.
Rating: 
Summary: .to know - or not to know. that IS the question!
Review: A Bright Red Scream was a very imformative book. However, being a self - mutilator myself and have done extensive research on it ... this book didn't have anything that I did not know already. But, this book I think would be FANTASTIC for any mental health professional, or for anyone who knows someone who self-injures and wants to learn more about the background, why, who etcetc...
Rating:
Summary: A Bright Red Scream...an accurate account of Emotional Pain
Review: This book gives the reader, whether it be a profesional, layperson or one who is plagued with this disorder, a very real sense of what it feels like to be driven by their demons within.It clearly leads one to an understanding of why one comes to the point of using self-mutilation to try and release such immense emotional pain. This understanding may hopfully lead to healing the scars both on the inside and outside and a new beginning. The book is easy to read and not filled with psychiatric vocabulary. I am mental health professional and also a cutter. I know life by both sides of the coin and highly recommend this book for anyone whose life has been touched by this disorder; mental health professionals, patients, family and friends. The more understanding out there, the more healing can begin and this book is a good place to start.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent resource!!!
Review: I was pleasantly surprised at how well researched and at the very same time incredibly personal this book is. Page after page, I found myself underlining tangible ideas and comments while cheering that Ms. Strong was able to clearly give life to a very scarey and mysterious addiction. I would highly recommend this book to all who struggle with issues about their body, sexually and overall sense of self. Whether you are a clinician, a self-mutilator or someone simply interested in the topic, this is an excellent resource!
Rating:
Summary: informative and engrossing
Review: An insightful book -- on many levels. Originally, I picked the book up to learn about the psychology behind cutting specifically, but I found this work to be illuminating in a much broader way. The author presents an empathetic, mostly nonclinical study of self-mutilation through profiles of cutters (mostly women), with insights into the ways that survivors of childhood abuse process and cope with the physical suffering that they have undergone. Interestingly, the light that is shed here is applicable to most of us who have any sort of trauma -- whether we are cutters or not, and whether that trauma has its origins in parental abuse or not. One of the strengths of the book is the polished way that the author manages to infuse factual information (such as scientific explanations of brain functioning, medications, etc.) into the generous number of deeply personal profiles. Perhaps more of a balance could have been achieved there -- the large number of profiles may tend to "water down" the impact of each after the first ten or so -- though it is clear that the author was attempting to show the diversity of the cutting population. In that, she is certainly a success.
Rating:
Summary: FINALLY!
Review: I loved this book. I myself am a self mutilator and I feel as though no one tries to understand me. This book helped me in so many ways. I was cutting around 6 times a day if not more when I purchased this book. I read it in less than a week. It helped me understand my past better and realize everything that happened isn't my fault and although I take it out on my body it won't go away. It showed me im not alone and I can make it through. Thank you so much for this wonderful book. I reccomend it to anyone who knows a cutter or is one theirselves.
Rating:
Summary: Good for cutters
Review: This book is great for cutters and former cutters to read. (As well as other SIers.) It explains the science behind self-injury in terms that are easily understood. It also allows the reader to look into the lives of other SIers and understand their stories. I think this is an incredible book and that every self-injurer should read it. Their friends and families could read it, too, to give them a good understanding of their loved-one's life.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Marilee Strong offers deep insight into self mutilation. She brings in many different perspectives and causes of this terrible diesase. Being a former cutter, I found it accurate, compelling, and very useful. Any former or current cutters should make sure they are in a safe enviorment before reading, it can be very triggering
Rating:
Summary: an incredible, but difficult read
Review: Having just finished the book Cutting before reading this one, I have to say that A Bright Red Scream was very thorough, which at times made it very difficult to read. I fully appreciate the honesty of this book, as it really looks into the lives of those who self-injure, and refuses to see the behaviour as merely a pathological phenomenon. This book validates the experiences of the people she interviewed, which is in turn validating to those who SI in general. My only advice in regards to this book is that if you currently self-injure, or are a former self-injurer is to take this book a little at a time, since it can at times be incredibly triggering.
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