Blades, Blood and Bandages

Blades, Blood and Bandages tells the stories of 25 people's experiences of self-injury. In so doing, themes which have so far been under represented in the study of this phenomenon are brought to the fore. In particular, it investigates how people who self-injure are affected by suffering, ritual and stigma.

"Far from being a rare, isolated phenomenon, there now is a growing awareness of the true extent of self-harm. Theresa McShane's Blades, Blood and Bandages centres moving accounts given by sufferers themselves and gives the reader a genuine insights into self-harm, both its spontaneous generation and its continuation. As such, it provides an essential counterweight to externally-imposed myths and 'medicalized' models. Blades, Blood and Bandages will assist professionals and care practitioners, as well as self harmers and their loved ones, understand this complex problem." - Robert Miller, Queens University, UK

Based on true accounts from people of different ages and backgrounds who have self harmed, Theresa McShane's recent book Blades, Blood and Bandages offers new perspectives on this very difficult issue. Using the theoretical framework of 'trajectories of suffering' and analysing the ritual aspects and the long-term impact of the actual acts of self harm, McShane offers the professional and the lay reader new ways of understanding both the act and the person who performs the act of self harm." - Dr Pauline Prior, Queen's University, Belfast

THERESA MCSHANE is a sociologist and independent researcher specialising in the fields of self-injury, suicide and mental health in general. She has lectured at Queen's University, Belfast, in Mental Health Policy and Advanced Qualitative Research Methods.