Women Who Hurt Themselves A Book of Hope & Understanding

For years, the harm that some women do to themselves was ignored and silenced, both in psychological literature and in homes and hospitals. Dusty Millers eye-opening book revealed the truth about a syndrome that has plagued millions—and continues to do so today, endangering ever-younger lives. Filled with moving stories, this powerful book was the first to focus on women who engage in different forms of self-mutilation.Miller is widely recognized as the first expert to identify the roots of “cutting” and other self-injurious behavior in women. These women suffer from what she calls “Trauma Reenactment Syndrome” (TRS), a pattern of behavior in which they reenact severe psychological or physical harm done to them as children. In the decade since her work was first published, new research has supported Millers perspective. In her introduction to this tenth anniversary edition, Miller discusses what self-harming women and abuse survivors have known all along: that self-injury activates endorphins that actually calm the psychic pain of old wounds. She describes the latest treatments geared to this view—and offers, once again, hope and understanding to the women themselves and to those who care for them.

The leading authority on self-mutilation has added a new introduction to the classic text that defined the syndrome for a generation of patients, therapists, and family members

Many books have described victims of rape and battering, but scant attention has been paid to another form of harm increasingly common among women. Here at last is a book that provides help for the thousands of women who secretly inflict violence on themselves. Filled with moving stories, this powerful and compassionate book is the first to focus on women who harm themselves through self-mutilation, compulsive cosmetic surgeries, eating disorders, and other forms of chronic injury to the body.

Dusty Miller, ED.D., is a psychologist in private practice. A professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology at Antioch/New England Graduate School, she also teaches at the Smith College School for Social Work. She lectures frequently on women who hurt themselves and has written on the subject for many professional publications.