The Body as Testament: a Phenomenological Case Study of an Adult Woman Who Self-mutilates

There are few words in our language that adequately express pain. To express emotional or physical pain to another human being we often rely upon metaphor. Self-mutilation is generally an unspoken expression of an internal and intangible experience. This behavior makes the unseen experience concrete. In some cases the process and outcome of self-mutilation is an explicit metaphor for the mind of the individual. Self-mutilation, the cuts, burns and scars represent fragmentation and woundedness in a graphic and pictorial fashion. The act is about pain, emotional and physical. The act is a reflection of the internal world of those who hurt themselves. This internal world represents the collective whole of each individual’s life.