Bertetta, J. (2008). Cutting through Self-mutilation: Sublating the Symptom (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2008).
ABSTRACT
Twenty-one years ago Armando Favazza published Bodies Under Siege, the first major book on self-mutilation. Since then, numerous books and hundreds of articles have discussed the behavior that was once called the anorexia of the nineties. Recently, self-mutilation has been approached from disciplines outside of psychology. Still, none have viewed the behavior from the perspective of depth psychology in a comprehensive manner. This dissertation attempts to correct that absence of perspective.
While a mainstream psychological perspective may focus on the causes, functions, and effects of cutting the flesh, this work will attempt to understand the inner workings of the desire to spill one’s own blood. I apply the perspectives of Carl Jung, James Hillman, and Wolfgang Giegerich to a behavior that has begun to spread across cultural and racial boundaries. It is also the contention of this author that self-mutilation is no longer a private individual matter. Rather, self-mutilation suggests significant collective patterns and meanings. Such approaches to self-mutilation will show that the global proliferation of the behavior is indicative of a desire for a transformation of consciousness.
When approached from the perspective of depth psychology we will see that self-mutilation speaks to more than the individual who cuts his or her own flesh. As the title of this dissertation indicates, this work draws out the blood of self-mutilation to ascertain its truth at the level of soul.
