Healing the Hurt Within - Understand Self-injury and Self-harm and Heal the Emotional Wounds

Anonymous. Personal communication (reprinted with permission) 25 October, 2006

I have read your book "Healing the hurt within" and just wanted to drop you a line to say that it is definitely one of the most helpful books on the market, that looks into the issue with compassion and sensitivity. I was very touched about how you see the relationship between a counsellor and those that seek to break out of this cycle, as I think not many therapists are able to reach out and really care or are able to understand what it really means to be stuck with SI and to struggle with it year after year without any hope of ever getting anywhere.

Thank you for your understanding and looking beyond the wounds.

Healing the Hurt Within 2 should go down as the definitive book on self harm and is an essential read for anyone who finds themselves affected by the issue. The book uses a balanced mix of case studies, theoretical practice and research to help the reader form a clear picture of what self harm means to the people who use it as a coping strategy and what treatments and therapies are proving to be the most effective. The debate about self harm being ‘self destructive’ as opposed to being a survival mechanism is addressed in a clear and concise way and the underlying causes of self harm are explained.

The author looks at the whole range of self harming behaviours and has included a chapter on eating distress to highlight the extent of diverse responses that can go under the umbrella of self harm. The chapter on the cycle of self injury provides great insight into what may be happening before, during and after an episode of self harm and it examines the role of dissociation and flashbacks within that cycle. Personal stories and cases studies help to illustrate this very clearly.

Healing the Hurt Within 2 is one of those rare books that will be as useful to professionals who work with this issue as it will be for people trying to understand more about their own self harm and how they might get some recovery from it. It provides excellent advice on treatments, especially in regard to what self harmers are telling us about what works for them in terms of responses and therapies; and it provides useful tools and an extraordinary amount of resources for anyone seeking help for themselves.

Jan Sutton has managed the difficult feat of dealing with a highly emotive issue in a compassionate but objective way. Subject matters ranging from ‘creative works by contributors’ to diagnostic criteria for post traumatic stress ensure that Healing the Hurt Within 2 is an extremely thought provoking and stimulating read. The book provides the clearest perspective on self harm that I’ve ever read, and I would encourage anyone looking to gain some insight into the complex issue to read it.

It is rare to find a book which is appropriate for such a wide audience. The second edition of HTHW will be invaluable for therapists and anyone supporting someone who self-harms. It is practical and very readable.

What stands out is the inclusion of personal testimonies. There are numerous books on self-harm and lots of web sites yet none offer such insight into what is behind self-harm. I used to self-harm and often felt frustrated that I was misunderstood and frequently misdiagnosed. These personal testimonies offer a deeper understanding and bring the subject alive. They give those who self-harm a voice and a chance to tell their stories.

As early as page two, Jan defines self-injury as a coping and survival strategy, and it is this key point that allows me to celebrate Jan’s work online and in Healing the hurt within. While it is important to address the concepts of addiction and emotional self-abuse as this handbook does, understanding the act of self-injury as a method of dealing with intense emotional distress is the key to therapeutic change.

We can no longer allow the hidden affliction of self-injury to remain a stigmatised medical oddity, related only to suicide and personality disorders.

Counselling professionals need to read chapter six; the very idea of ‘no-harm contracts’ for clients is against the principals of the therapeutic trust-bond between counsellor and client, and yet many professionals feel such a contract is their ‘safety net’. This book should be carefully digested by any practitioner who may work with people who self-injure, which could be anyone, as the syndrome of self-injury can be part of anyone’s lives in the UK, regardless of age or sex. Self-injury can come to be relied upon by people from all walks of life, and for all kinds of personal reasons.

This book is not aimed only at professionals, it not only addresses the syndrome of self-injury using real experiences from people who self-injure, but it is lead by those voices in pain. Chapter seven specifically turns to self-help, something that LifeSIGNS is committed to; we believe that everyone has the ability to grow and heal, and this chapter in particular approaches the subject of dealing with our own emotions.

Jan’s resource-laden website has become the global repository for self-injury information, and Healing the hurt within has an excellent Resource section and everyone should update their web bookmarks from Jan’s suggestions.

Found the Eight C's really helpful as an approach to understand 'what self injury is, and what it is not'.

The book draws out how the terminology used to describe the issue is, at times unhelpful and in some cases misleading.

The 'hints' and helpful advice within the book will be especially reassuring to anyone who is self harming - as will the survivor voices that bring life to this book.

This book will be useful to anyone who wants to know more about the subject of self harm/injury and the role that dissociation and/or depersonalisation plays within this emotive issue.

CIS'ters, c/o PO Box 119, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO50 9ZF.
Tel: (02380) 338080 (answer machine).
Provides support for adult females who were sexually abused as children by a member of their immediate or extended family. Quarterly newsletter. Group meetings, including workshops for survivors. Training for people working with survivors.

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