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Self-mutilation is described as "the deliberate destruction or alteration of body tissue without conscious suicidal intent" (Favazza, 1989). Institutional and individual self-mutilation practices can be traced historically to early public expressions of grief and religious devotion. In 1 Kings 18:28. reference is made to the priests of Baal, who, during a religious ceremony, "began calling at the top of their voice and cutting themselves according to their cusluiii with daggers and iances. until they caused blood to flow out upon them." In the New Testament (Philippians 3:2), the Apostle Paul urged fellow Christians to "avoid those mutilating the flesh." With reference to the practice of self-injury as an expression of public mourning among Scythians, the Greek historian Herodotus wrote (IV, 71): "They cut off a part of their ears, shave their heads, make cuts around their arm, tear their foreheads and noses, and pierce their left hands with arrows." Tattoos also are of ancient origin, as illustrated by the Egyptian custom of tattooing the names or symbols of certain gods or goddesses on the breasts or arms.
Other terms that have been used to designate self-injury /self-mutilation (SI/ SM) are partial suicide, focal suicide, parasuicide, self-violence, auto-aggression, delicate self-cutting, and antisuicide (the individual, rather than wanting to be dead or "kill" a body part. injures the self to relieve feelings of deadness, numbness, or unreality). This disorder typically begins in early adolescence and may persist fora lifetime.
Categories of Self-Injury/ Self-Mutilation Behaviors
Although SI/SM has been described by various authors throughout the centuries, the first attempt to classify the phenomenon was made by Menninger (1935). He proposed six categories:
* Neurotic self-mutilation:
* Religious self-mutilation:
* Puberty rites;
* Self-mutilation in psychotic patients;
* Self- mutilation in organic diseases; and
* Self-mutilation in normal persons - customary and conventional forms.
Other classifications followed, such as the model advanced by Ross and McKay (1979). They proposed nine types of self-mutilating behaviors:
* Cutting;
* Biting;
* Abrading;
* Severing;
* Inserting;
* Burning;
* Ingesting or inhaling;
* Hitting; and
* Constricting.
Favazza and Rosenthal (1993) reduced the categories to three:
* Major - infrequent acts that result in significant tissue damage, usually associated with psychoses and acute imodifications;
* Stereotypie - rhythmic behavior seemingly devoid...