Throughout history, people have invented many different ways to inflict direct and deliberate physical injury on themselves -- without an intent to die. Even today, self-injury is sanctioned by some cultures, although condemned by most.

This insightful work fills a gap in the literature on pathologic self-injury. The phenomenon of people physically hurting themselves is heterogeneous in nature, disturbing in its impact on the self and others, frightening in its blatant maladaptiveness, and often indicative of serious developmental disturbances, breaks with reality, or deficits in the regulation of affects, aggressive impulses, or self states. Further complicating our understanding of this behavior is the large and diverse scope of psychiatric conditions, such as pervasive developmental disorders, Tourette's syndrome, and psychosis, in which these behaviors occur.

This volume presents a comprehensive nosology of self-injurious behaviors, classifying them as stereotypic (e.g., head banging, seen mostly in developmentally disabled patients), major (e.g., castration, a rare complication of psychosis), compulsive (e.g., hair pulling), and impulsive (e.g., skin picking). Its distinguished contributors cover both the theoretical and the practical as they discuss these categories in relation to phenomenology, biological and psychological theories, and pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment approaches.

An eminently practical guide with exhaustive references to the latest data and research findings, this concise volume contains clinical material and therapeutic interventions that can be used right away by clinicians to better understand and treat patients with these complex and disturbing behaviors.

This volume presents the nosology of self-injurious behaviors, classifying them as stereotypic, compulsive, and impulsive. It coverS both the theoretical and the practical as they discuss these categories in relation to phenomenology, biological and psychological theories, and pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment approaches.