Self-mutilation Before or During Incarceration? A Study Conducted on Inmates in Bucharest Rahova Penitentiary

Claudia Constantinescu and Raluca Cazacu
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Claudia Constantinescu: University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Raluca Cazacu: University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

Sociology and Social Work Review, 2022, vol. 6, issue 2, 6-19

Abstract: Self-injurious behavior prevails in teenagers, as they have deficiencies in abstract thinking, a cognitive immaturity. Adults resort to such practices to get rid of problematic situations, to draw attention to themselves, or when they are looking for help. The forms of manifestation include hair pulling, the production of excoriations on the skin, ingestion of toxic substances, objects, such as needles, razor blades, acute voluntary drug intoxication. If the practice of mutilation finds its essence, in traditions, customs or law, self-mutilation is a deliberate act, which depends on the will of each individual. Psychosocial, affective, and cognitive factors, the level of education and culture have greater or lesser weights in the subject's decision. The ambient environment and social context also play a role that can be decisive in self-aggressive behavior. Self-mutilation represents such behavior, which has been studied for years, without reaching definitive conclusions. This paper is looking at the causes and sources that push inmates to resort to self-harm and how to proceed in these cases, as well as the treatment and multidisciplinary assistance necessary to limit these deviant behaviors. The universe of the penitentiary offers an environment whose essential coordinates are due to failure, stress, despair, and of pathological origin. The peculiarities of this institution clearly leave their mark on authentic human experiences. What prompts the inmates to resort to such practices as self-agression? What is the symbolic language of self-harm? What are their intentions: to communicate something, to overcome a problem, to transfer emotional pain into a physical one, to show that they are different, to defend themselves, to punish themselves or others, to see blood, to check if they are alive? Does human aggression depend only on environment and education, or also on the hereditary factor?

Keywords: self-mutilation; inmates; behaviorism; self-aggression; therapeutic justices; imprisonment. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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