A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain

Rating:
Summary: A very good, yet triggery books...
Review: A Bright Red Scream is a very good book. It is very triggery, though, so if you aren't safe, please skip the graphic sections. And when I say graphic, I mean graphic. I could've lived without some of the references to sadomachism, but I know that some people who are into that are also SIers. I would definitely recommend this book to self-injurers, in particular cutters and burners. If you do other forms of SI, they aren't as highly mentioned, but this might be of use to you. It tells the stories of many SIers from around the world, male and female, young and old.

Please, read this!

Rating:
Summary: Very good but very real
Review: This was an excellent book that took a very real look at self-mutilation. It hit the nail right on the head. I very much recommend it to those who don't understand self-mutilation and what motivates people to do such a thing to themselves. It can help a person gain a better understanding of the behavior.

However, it must be warned that one who is recovering from such feelings needs to brace him- or herself for the contents of this book. It can cause a rush of emotions and memories that can be hard to handle and could lead to a relapse if one is not mentally prepared. I recommend it highly, but I beg that you prepare yourself first.

Rating:
Summary: Eye-opening.
Review: Marilee Strong, A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain (Penguin, 1998)

It amazes me how psychologists can take a series of seemingly unrelated symptoms, come up with a hypothesis, and be dead-on right. For the past twenty years, they've been doing just that with the small, but increasing, segment of the populace who injure themselves through bloodletting, beating their heads against walls, breaking bones, and other such behaviors. Strong, a journalist, boils all the research down and combines it with "thousands" (as she says in the preface) of interviews with the types of people profiled in the research. The end result is a powerful book about childhood trauma and its relation to self-destructive behavior. A very important piece of work that will go unread, or not understood, by those who most need it-- neglectful and abusive parents. ****

Rating:
Summary: A tough, but must read
Review: I wanted to better understand the world of self mutilation, because I am a "cutter". This book offered some interesting perspective on this disorder, and over again I saw myself in the different stories of people in the book. One of the more interesting sections of the book is the chapter "on the wild side" where the book explores ritulistic cutting, tattoes, piercings and other sub-culture topics. I recomend this book to people who self mutilate, or for people who just simply wish to better understand why people would do this to themselves.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Emotions
Review: I had so may mixed emotions while reading this. So many stories reminded me of my own personal demons that I 've beaten. I had to force myself to read this sometimes because some stories were just too intense. If you cut yourself or sel abuse yourself, read this book. It may be a hard read, but it will make you open your eyes. However I do have some criticism of the book. The term "cutters is used too frequently in the book. Also, most victims are victims of some sort of abuse, but there are many who cut who aren't victims of abuse. And on a final note, it would have been nice to see Ms. Strong get the story of somebody who has recovered and see how life changed for them

Rating:
Summary: Excellent insight.
Review: After reading this book, I had a totaly new insight on people who self-mutilate, including myself. I tend to shy away from authors who continuosly use the word 'cutters', as I see it as an insult unless used by a fellow self-mutilator. I know this term is cshorter and easier to say, but come on, how hard is it to take a split second to say something different? But overall, I really did like this book, even though at some points I disagreed. But what can I say? NOt everyone can completely agree with everything.

Rating:
Summary: i found myself in a book
Review: It was quite by accident that I found this book. I am still healing from the last time I cut myself in an effort to get the pain out. I believed I was suicidal (maybe I still am) but now I know that there are others who feel the same.

Ms Strong's book explained to the smallest detail all the things happening to me, and helped me feel less of a freak. Not only does this book help people who mutilate themselves to understand why they do it, but she gives great advise on steps to take to move toward ending the nightmare.

This book does not condemn cutters or label them as crazy or disgusting. It doesn't even say that we must stop the slashing that sometimes saves our lives. It is written to inform that there are many, many people hurting so badly on the inside that they must see their pain in the form of blood being discharged from their own bodies, and by offering concrete ways of stopping the pain.

I found "A Bright Red Scream" difficult to put down because it was as though I saw myself actually being seen as me for the first time. I became upset in parts of the book where I learned that we don't always want to give up our ways of dealing because we don't want to do the work, or that we have become attached to what we know works for us. If I am going to be honest with myself, I know these are true statements, at least in my case. I am grateful for this insight.

Rating:
Summary: Bright Red
Review: Being a cutter, this book helped me realise that cutting is not something to be ashamed of. The stories are very compelling and most cutters could see themselves through a couple of the portraits of the cutters described in the book. A must read for cutters and people who do not understand cuttting.

Rating:
Summary: a misleading book
Review: Though this book is weel written and interesting it focuses too much on self-injurers who come from a backround of abuse. In truth only half of those who self injury have been abused, what about the other half? I self injure and I have never been abused. This book and the setement if perpetuates makes people like me feel as if we are self-piting and do not have a right to suffer from such a serious disorder. Though I understand that incest is more interesting than a parent's unhappy marriage or a mother's depression this book would have been much more informative if it spent a little more time on the later

Rating:
Summary: it speaks the truth
Review: The "dedication", if you will, for A Bright Red Scream, says, "For the walking wounded, may they no longer suffer in silence." I think that says it all. I am a cutter. Ms. Strong's book was real, open, raw, and refreshingly honest. The topic is covered thoroughly and the book was extremely well-written. I can only hope that maybe more people will read this and realize that we are not 'freaks' or 'psychos'. I am not anything like that. I am simply a little girl.