SELF HARM RESOURCES

First Hand Accounts

You know what self-harm is, you know who does it and why, but... what does it feel like to be those people?  If you're looking to find more descriptive sources, here are some places you can hear people who've struggled with self-harm talk about their experiences.

 

A Documentary:  A World of Pain - Meera Syal On Self Harm - NOTE: description of injuries, images, and personal stories in this film may be triggering.   A writer sharing research she did on self harm.  Involves interviews of a wide range of people and ages.  Introduces many different reasons and situations and views on self-harm, told largely by self-harmers themselves.

 

I do NOT have an Eating Disorder - A comic-strip style story of a woman's struggle with an eating disorder and self-harm

 

Books:

Fiction:

• Willow - Julia Hoban (dealing with grief, loss, guilt)

• Scars - Cheryl Rainfield (sexual abuse)

• Cut - Patricia McCormick (inpatient treatment)

• Kat's Fall - Shelley Hrdlitschka 

• The Good Patient - Kristin Waterfield Duisberg (trauma, repressed memories)

• Red Tears - Joanna Kenrick (depression)

• Out of the Dark - Linda Caine, Robin Royston (trauma, repressed memories)

Based in Reality or Memoirs

• Scarred - Sophie Andrews (trauma)

• Comes the Darkness, Comes the Light - Vanessa Vega 

• Skin Game: A Memoir by Caroline Kettlewell (one of the best books I've read)

• Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen

• Prozac Nation - Elizabeth Wurtzel

• The Buddha and the Borderline - Kiera Van Gelder (Borderline Personality Disorder)

• Cut - Cathy Glass

Research

• A Bright Red Scream - Marilee Strong

• Bodies Under Siege - Armando R. Favazza

• When the body is the target - Sharon Klayman Farber

 

Massive book list HERE.