"An excellent book which offers a detailed investigation of one of the more troubling ways in which embodied social actors in the contemporary world relate to their bodies. Revealing in relation to both self-harm and embodiment more generally, and written in a clear and engaging manner." (Nick Crossley, Professor of Sociology, University of Manchester, UK) "As a growing health concern, especially among young people, self-injury is perhaps one of the most complex of 'late modern' phenomena to understand, and to provide adequate care and support. Amy Chandler has provided a skillful critique located centrally in the medicalisation/ demedicalisation debates; not only is this a rigorous academic overview which transcends simplistic lay/professional and body/mind divides, her research is also grounded in empirical 'lived experience' (including her own), which gives added authenticity. This book combines scholarship and 'real world' experience to successfully span the academic/ practitioner/ user readership." (Gillian Bendelow, Professor of Sociology of Health and Medicine, University of Brighton, UK).