Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-299) and index

1. Pre-History of Self-Harm: From Ancient Castration to Medicinal Bloodletting -- 2. Morbid Impulse and Moral Insanity: The Emergence of Self-mutilation in Late Nineteenth-century Psychiatry -- 3. Sexual Self-Mutilation: Masturbation, Masculinity and Self-control in Late Victorian Britain -- 4. Motiveless Malingerers: Multiple Personality, Attention-seeking and Hysteria around 1900 -- 5. Focal Suicide: Hypersexuality, Masochism and the Death Instinct in Psychoanalysis -- 6. Delicate Self-Cutting: Schizophrenia and the 'Borderline' in Post-war North America -- 7. Trigger Happy: Culture, Contagion and Trauma in the Internet Age -- Conclusion : Three Narratives of Bodily Harm

"Self-harm is thought by many to be a modern epidemic: a phenomenon of the late twentieth century, a symptom of extreme emotional turmoil in young people, particularly young women. Yet it was 150 years ago, within early asylum psychiatry, that self-mutilation was first codified as a category of behaviour, and explanations for a variety of self-injurious acts were conceived very differently. Psyche on the Skin charts the secret history of self-harm. The book describes its many forms, from sexual self-mutilation and hysterical malingering in the late Victorian period, to self-castrating religious sects, to self-mutilation and self-destruction in art, music and popular culture. Sarah Chaney's refreshing historical approach refutes the notion that self-harm has any universal meaning -- that it necessarily says something specific about an individual or group, or that it can ever be understood outside the historical and cultural context of a particular era. Drawing on her personal experiences, written in an engaging style and containing many powerful images, Psyche on the Skin challenges the misconceptions and controversies surrounding self-harm. The book is crucial reading for professionals in the field as well as all those affected by this act." -- Publisher's description