Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T19:51:29.973Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM-III-R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Analecta (1820) Case of bulimia. Journal of Foreign Medicine, II, 327–328.Google Scholar
Medical Gazette (1833) Case of extraordinary congenital bulimia. Medical Gazette, July, 573–574.Google Scholar
Balderston, K. C., (ed.) (1942) Thraliana, the Diary of Mrs Hester Lynch Thrale (Later Mrs Piozzi), Vol. I, 1776–84. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Blachez, P. F. (1869) Boulimie. In Dictionnaire Encyclopédique des Sciences Médicales, Vol. 10, 1st series (ed. Dechambre, A.), pp. 318–325. Paris: V. Masson et Fils.Google Scholar
Black, A., (ed.) (1860) Biographies by Lord Macaulay, Contributed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Edinburgh: A. & C. Black.Google Scholar
Blouin, A., Blouin, J., Aubin, P., et al (1992) Seasonal patterns of bulimia nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 73–81.Google ScholarPubMed
Brain, W. R. (1961) A post-mortem on Dr Johnson. In Some Reflections on Genius and Other Essays, pp. 92–100. London: Pitman Medical Publishing.Google Scholar
Browne, A. & Finkelhor, D. (1986) Impact of child sexual abuse: a review of the research. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 66–77.Google Scholar
Carruthers, R., (ed.) (1852) Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson LL.D., by James Boswell Esq. A New Edition, Illustrated. London: Office of the National Illustrated Library.Google Scholar
Chapman, R. W., (ed.) (1953) Boswell's Life of Johnson (Oxford standard authors edition). London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Copland, J. (1858) A Dictionary of Practical Medicine, Vol. 1. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts.Google Scholar
Cullen, W. (1780) Synopsis Methodicae Exhibens … Systema Nosologica. Edinburgh: G. Creech.Google Scholar
Druitt, R. (1862) Clinical notes on some common diseases. No. 1. Intemperance and its prevention. Medical Times and Gazette, 1, 29–31.Google Scholar
Ellis, A. R., (ed.) (1889) The Early Diary of Frances Burney, 1768–1778, 2 vols. London: G. Bell & Sons.Google Scholar
Favazza, A. R. (1989) Why patients mutilate themselves. Hospital Community Psychiatry, 40, 137–145.Google Scholar
Galignani, A. & Galignani, W. (1864) Bulimia. British Medical Journal, ii, 565.Google Scholar
Garfinkel, P. E., Moldofsky, H. & Garner, D. M. (1980) The heterogeneity of anorexia nervosa. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 1036–1040.Google Scholar
Garner, D. M., Garfinkel, P. E. & O'Shaughnessy, M. (1985) The validity of the distinction between bulimia with and without anorexia nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 581–582.Google Scholar
Harris, R. T. (1983) Bulimarexia and related serious eating disorders with medical complications. Annals of Internal Medicine, 99, 800–807.Google Scholar
Hibbert, C. (1971) The Personal History of Samuel Johnson. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Hooper, R. (1811) Quincy's Lexicon-Medicum: a New Medical Dictionary. London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees & Co.Google Scholar
Kent, A. & Lacey, J. H. (1992) Bulimia and anorexia nervosa alternating with the seasons: a case report. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 11, 269–273.3.0.CO;2-X>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laycock, T. (1840) A Treatise on the Nervous Diseases of Women. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans.Google Scholar
Macaulay, T. B. (1854) Critical and Historical Essays, Contributed to the Edinburgh Review, Vol. 1. London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans.Google Scholar
Madden, J. A. (1967) Dr Samuel Johnson's alcohol problem. Medical History, 11, 141–149.Google Scholar
Martyn, J. (1745) Communication of a letter from J. Cookson M.D. concerning the boy who has an extraordinary boulimia, or craving appetite. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, XLIII, 380–381.Google Scholar
McHenry, L. C. Jr (1985) Neurological disorders of Dr Samuel Johnson. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 78, 485–491.Google Scholar
Menninger, K. A. (1938) Man Against Himself. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company.Google Scholar
Meyer, B. C. & Rose, D. (1986) Remarks on the etiology of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 174, 387–396.Google Scholar
Miller, F. J., (ed.) (1984) Ovid in Six Volumes, Vol. III, Metamorphoses; with an English translation. London: W. Heinemann.Google Scholar
Mitchell, J. E., Boutacoff, L. I., Hatsukami, D., et al (1986) Laxative abuse as a variant of bulimia. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 174, 174–176.Google Scholar
Mortimer, C. (1745) Communication of the extract of a letter from Mr B– B–r containing an account in pounds and ounces, of the surprising quantities of food devoured by a boy … who labour'd under a canine appetite, at Black Barnsley in Yorkshire. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, XLIII, 366–368.Google Scholar
Murray, T. J. (1979) Dr Johnson's movement disorder. British Medical Journal, i, 1610–1614.Google Scholar
Parry-Jones, B. (1991) Historical terminology of eating disorders. Psychological Medicine, 21, 21–28.Google Scholar
Parry-Jones, B. (1992) A bulimic ruminator? The case of Dr Samuel Johnson. Psychological Medicine, 22, 851–862.Google Scholar
Parry-Jones, B. & Parry-Jones, W. LI. (1991) Bulimia: an archival review of its history in psychosomatic medicine. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 10, 129–143.Google Scholar
Pope, H. G. Jr & Hudson, J. I. (1992) Is childhood sexual abuse a risk factor for bulimia nervosa? American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 455–463.Google Scholar
Porter, R. (1985) The hunger of imagination: approaching Samuel Johnson's melancholy. In The Anatomy of Madness: Essays in the History of Psychiatry. Vol. 1 (eds Bynum, W. F., Porter, R. & Shepherd, M.), pp. 63–88. London and New York: Tavistock Publications.Google Scholar
Pribor, E. F. & Dinwiddie, S. H. (1992) Psychiatric correlates of incest in childhood. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 52–56.Google Scholar
Quain, R. (1895) A Dictionary of Medicine, Vol. I. London: Longmans, Green & Company.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, N. E., Sack, D. A., Gillin, J. C., et al (1984) Seasonal affective disorder: a description of the syndrome and preliminary findings with light therapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 72–80.Google Scholar
Ross, R. R. & McKay, H. B. (1979) Self-Mutilation. Lexington, Mass: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Satterley, R. P. (1815) A case of fever, attended with inordinate appetite. Medical Transactions Published by the College of Physicians in London, V, 350–357.Google Scholar
Shapiro, S. (1987) Self-mutilation and self-blame in incest victims. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 41, 46–54.Google Scholar
Simeon, D., Stanley, B., Frances, A., et al (1992) Self-mutilation in personality disorders: psychological and biological correlates. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 221–228.Google Scholar
Trimble, M. R. (1983) The Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. Psychiatry in Practice, October, 7–14.Google Scholar
Tuke, D. H. (1892) A Dictionary of Psychological Medicine, Vol. II. Philadelphia: Blackiston.Google Scholar
Vela, J., Harris, J., Wright, J.K., et al (1983) Self-mutilation. Journal of Trauma, 23, 165–167.Google Scholar
Walsh, B. W. & Rosen, P. M. (1988) Self-Mutilation: Theory, Research and Treatment. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Wiltshire, J. (1991) Samuel Johnson in the Medical World: the Doctor and the Patient. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Winchel, R. M. & Stanley, M. (1991) Self-injurious behavior: a review of the behavior and biology of self-mutilation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 306–317.Google Scholar
Winslow, L. S. F. (1880) Fasting and feeding: a detailed account of recorded instances of unusual abstinence from food, and of cases illustrating inordinate appetite. Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology, VI, 253–299.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1992) The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.