Understanding Skin-cutting in Adolescence

Sacrificing a Part to Save the Whole

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3809218
AutoresDavid Le Breton (0000-0002-3000-0277, Université de Strasbourg, autor de correspondencia)
Año2018
Volumen24
Número1-2
Páginas33-54
Fecha de publicación2018-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaBody & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1357-034X • E-ISSN: 1460-3632
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1357034x18760175
OpenAlexW2790641222
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas15
Referencias citadas13

Adolescents are said to be, figuratively speaking, thin-skinned. But their thin-skinnedness is also real: both ambivalent and ambiguous, the border between self and other is, for many young people, a source of constant turmoil. The recourse to bodily self-harm is a means of dealing with this turmoil and the feelings of powerlessness it generates. Drawing on extensive semi-structured interviews conducted over the course of the last twenty years, this article explores the experiences of adolescents who engage in self-cutting. A deliberate and controlled use of pain, this 'symbolic homeopathy' - that is, harming oneself to feel less pain - acts as a defence against externally imposed suffering. Far from being destructive, self-harm practices can paradoxically be understood as survival techniques. Part of a long-term, ongoing project investigating adolescent risk-taking, this article seeks to better understand the experiences of teens who injure themselves through skin-cutting

Ambivalence · Developmental psychology · Feeling · Harm · Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies · Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology