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Self-mutilation in Four Historical Cases of Bulimia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Brenda Parry-Jones  and
William Li. Parry-Jones
Brenda Parry-Jones*
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Glasgow, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ
William Li. Parry-Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Glasgow, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

Current theories suggest that there is a relatively frequent association of self-mutilative behaviour with eating disorders, particularly with the modern binge-purge syndrome, bulimia nervosa. In order to consider this association on a historical dimension. 25 bulimic cases, reported from the late 17th to the late 19th century, were investigated. These were found to include four examples of self-mutilative behaviour, in three males and one female: these cases are described and discussed. The historical evidence lends some support for the suggested connection between eating pathology and self-mutilation.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 163 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 394 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

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