Articles: The Beautiful Lair
By Amy Carr
One of the most heart wrenchingly honest and most universally understandable elements of Trent Reznor's lyrics is the way in which he deals with emotional pain. Humans spend most of their lives searching to understand themselves and the world in which they live. One aspect of this journey that has perplexed and intrigued me for years is the relationship between humans and pain of all kinds.
In this three-part edition of The Beautiful Liar I will be examining the relationship between Man and his pain, focusing on its physical (Part I), spiritual (Part II), and mental (Part III) aspects.
Pain is something to which humans seem to be tied in an inescapable bond. No matter how far we go to alleviate it, we cannot escape its reach. Answers are sought in religion, medicine, therapy, drugs, and science, all to no avail. What pain life does not bring us, we are somehow compelled to create for ourselves.
Any devout Nine Inch Nails fan knows the lyrics to "Hurt", which is, without a doubt, one of his most emotionally honest songs. The first four lines are probably the most haunting:
His sentiment is one that is frighteningly familiar to just about everyone who hears those lyrics. We are all aware, on some level, of the role we play in our struggles. Pain in all its forms, is a part of, if not the only, way humans build their identity and know who they are. By discovering who and what we are not, independently of the world around us, we can know who and what we ARE.
Physical Pain
The human body is a unique and beautifully constructed (albeit delicate, inefficient and short-lived) biological machine with many functions that are solely human. One of those very human functions is scarring. No other animal in the world develops the large, thick, prominent scars that are present on probably every human body in one form or another.
The difference in appearance and frequency of human scars is attributed by some to the function of scarring as way of protecting the body from infection; the faster something heals, the less the chance of infection. Another possible function of scars is to act as a physical reminder of mistakes made and what NOT to do (1).
Scars are innately fascinating, evoking a wide range of reactions ranging from sexual arousal to fear and loathing. The more prominent a scar, the stronger the reaction. It has actually been documented that strangers stand approximately a foot farther away from someone with a facial scar or disfigurement than from someone who does not, and yet, despite our revulsion, we are compelled to ask the burning question "What happened to you?" (1).
We want to ask because we all instinctively know that behind every scar there is a story, and it is often that story which "...seems to make all the difference in [the] response to it" (1). On the same token, the circumstances of the injury which results in a scar are also a determining factor in how much physical pain is experienced by the victim. A man who loses his hand in a car accident will experience more physical pain than will the man who loses his hand fighting in a war. The former man sees the loss of his hand as a tragedy because it was the only victim in the accident, but the soldier sees the loss of his hand as a symbol of his struggle and is relieved that he lost the hand and not his life (3).
Many cultures consider "...tattoos, branding, piercing and intentional scarring [a way for them] to proclaim their ancient lineage, display their bravery and attract potential mates" (1). Egyptian Pharaohs pierced their navels, Roman soldiers pierced their nipples, and piercing was used in Africa and the Americas to mark religious or coming of age rights (5).
In the modern world, however, the puritanical American/Western attitude towards such "body art" or "body modification", based on the Aristotelian ideal of the unflawed, unadorned body is seen by some as something to rebel against. Instead, these Neotribalists, as they are called, embrace humanity's tribal roots, and consider body art/modification a way of thumbing their noses at the system and to increase their self-esteem and transform themselves through the ordeal of receiving the body art (1).
The pain associated with body art is undeniable and is widely considered one of the most valuable parts of the experience. Going through the oft-times excruciating process is a way to transcend their present state of being due to the "altered state of consciousness that's probably related to the…endorphin rush that follows [the ordeal]". Body modification is still used to mark rites of passage or other significant happenings in one's life. A perfect example is how some young women get a piercing after being raped, and some Fraternities brand their members to remind them of their commitment to the group (1).
Despite the aesthetic uses of and thoughts about body modification, scarring is not always the result of accidents or unintentional injuries, or even the manifestation of one's rebellion against a repressive system. Whole groups of individuals exist who hurt themselves intentionally but without the goal of suicide as a reaction to emotional stress. Commonly these people are known as "cutters" , but to most medical professionals they are known as "borderlines" . Most often they injure themselves with razors, knives, lighters and the like. And "[f]or many patients with self-inflicted wounds, the scars [would seem to] tell the story of their illness and their attempts to heal themselves" (1).
"Cutters" and "cutting" are terms familiar to some, not so familiar to others. Most often Cutters are young people who are looking for a way to deal with extreme emotional pain and anxiety. Although Cutters are, in general, young women, the behavior is not limited solely to females. The behavior tends to progress like an addiction, becoming a compulsive act and which in severity over time, often resulting in myriad scars over one particular part of the body.
Although most self-injurers are diagnosed as having Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD (see footnote #2) because "self-inflicted injuries are a common feature of the psychiatric syndrome...Borderlines live in a no-man's-land where features of...disorders of thinking, such as schizophrenia-overlap with features of mood disorders, such as depression" (4). And, not "...all patients who cut themselves are borderlines. Some otherwise well-functioning people use the pain of a cut and the sight of blood as a way to cope with an emotional problem" (4).
Ironically, many, if not all, cutters claim the injuries they inflict on themselves do not hurt, but give them a sense of power and control. In the words of one cutter:
Strangely enough, though, there is research to support their claim of painless injuries. "On a neurological level, the injury seems to produce natural endogenous opiates known as beta-endorphins that lead to temporary states of euphoria after the infliction of the injury" (3).
This is the aspect of cutting that would seem to have the medical world baffled, and is part of the reason for the prevalence of misdiagnosis of self-injurers. Doctors of all kinds cannot understand the way in which they "...seem to experience the trauma in a positive manner, and the subjective terrain of their experience is never identical with the causes attributed to the actions by scientists" (3).
The way in which self-mutilators look at the injuries they inflict on themselves can be understood when the "self" is looked at as being two different entities. Ariel Glucklich, in her articles "Sacred Pain and the Phenomenal Self", and "Self and Sacrifice: A Phenomenonological Psychology of Sacred Pain" defines those two entities as the "body self" and the "phenomenal self" .
Self-injurers would seem to strategically use the senses of the body-self to control the emotions of the phenomenal self. "In the words of neurologist V.S. Ramachandran, "pain is an opinion on the organism's state of health rather than a mere reflexive response to an injury" (3). If that is the case, if pain (or the perception of pain) is only an opinion of sorts, it makes perfect sense that if you change the opinion, you change the perception. Once a self-injurer has made the separation between their body and phenomenal selves-coming to complete awareness that the body self is only something experienced by the phenomenal self-and therefore allowing them to change the opinion that is pain, they can harm their bodies without the traditional reactions associated with said harm.
It is also the separation of the body and phenomenal selves that allows the difference in experience between the soldier and the man in the car. Because the phenomenal self is experiencing the situation differently, the body self reacts accordingly. This separation, according to Glucklich, is the difference between self and sacrifice, and is explained in much greater detail in her article of the same title "Self and Sacrifice".
But how, you ask, does all this information tie in with the idea that pain helps humans discover who they are? When someone receives a tattoo, piercing, or other such body modification or body art as a part of a ritual with cultural or religious significance, they are declaring that as being a basis for their identity. They are able to say to themselves, "I went through the pain and now I know I'm a part of [name of group or tribe or religion]." Being a part of that group, then, helps them develop their identity. It gives them a place to start and build from.
When a person engages in self-mutilation as a means to cope with emotional trauma, stress, or anxiety, the way in which that builds the personality becomes a lot murkier. Due to the mental conditioning of Western culture, most people react to self-injurers with horror and fail to see the albeit difficult to understand, but completely valid positive results of self-injuring.
Self-injury is used more often than not as a way to cope with negative emotions, and does more good than harm at the time it occurs. Sometimes in order for someone to remain mentally (phenomenally) intact, they must harm themselves physically (bodily). If you have a headache and then stub your toe, you immediately (if only temporarily) forget about the headache. The result of the physical harm is not that of loss and pain, but of power and control, a sense of identity is formed that has nothing to do with the body-self. The phenomenal-self transcends the body-self.
I am not saying that self-injury is the best or only means to that end, and I am certainly not promoting it as something for people who are having identity crises to start. My point is that pain is an integral part of the physical existence of humans, and that we use pain as a tool to define where our body ends and personalities/phenomenal selves begin. Our scars, the tattoos, piercings, brands, disfigurements, even those from self-inflicted wounds, are the seemingly foreign language of our mental journey towards self-discovery in a complex and ever changing human landscape.
"Cutters" are people who physically harm themselves as a means of coping with emotional stress, using physical pain to control emotional pain.
Borderline Personality Disorder or BPD. Many people who are diagnosed with BPD only display "...only 48% of...the DSM criteria for BPD. When self-injury was excluded as a factor, only 28% of the sample met the criteria." In fact, upon "interviews, people who engage in repetitive self-injury have reported being diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, anorexia, bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, many of the dissociative disorders...anxiety and panic disorders, and impulse-control disorder not otherwise specified." (9)
The physical body, which Glucklich describes as "...a neurological template…the 'neurosignature'" which can be broken up into two parts. "The first...is the 'body schema," which accounts, from a neurological perspective, for the organism's ability to operate consistently and effectively within enourmously complex and shifting physical environments. The...'body image' is the phenomenal or experiential face of the body schema. It is the sense that the agent has of 'owning' a cohesive and coordinated body-self." (3)
The non-corporeal personality, or mind; the place where biological organization becomes an experience.
Bibliography
1. Austin, Elizabeth. "Marks of Mystery".
Psychology Today. July 1999.
2. Glucklich, Ariel. "Sacred Pain and the Phenomenal Self". Harvard Theological Review. October, 1998.
3. Glucklich, Ariel. "Self and Sacrifice: A Phenomenonological Psychology of Sacred Pain". Harvard Theological Review. October 1999.
4. Grim, Pamela. "Cut to the Quick (borderline personality disorder case study)". Discover. July, 2000.
5. Kinnon, Joy Bennett. "PIERCED to Death". Ebony. April, 2000.
6. Nesse, Randolph M. "The Evolution of Hope and Despair". Social Research. Summer, 1999.
7. Nickell, Joe. "Sitgmata: In Imitation of Christ". Skeptical Inquirer. July, 2000.
8. Rochman, Sue. "The Cutting Edge". Advocate: the national gay & lesbian news magazine. May 23, 2000.
9. Secret Shame (http://www.kidsindrugfreesociety.com/~llama/psych/intro.html#intro)
In this three-part edition of The Beautiful Liar I will be examining the relationship between Man and his pain, focusing on its physical (Part I), spiritual (Part II), and mental (Part III) aspects.
Pain is something to which humans seem to be tied in an inescapable bond. No matter how far we go to alleviate it, we cannot escape its reach. Answers are sought in religion, medicine, therapy, drugs, and science, all to no avail. What pain life does not bring us, we are somehow compelled to create for ourselves.
Any devout Nine Inch Nails fan knows the lyrics to "Hurt", which is, without a doubt, one of his most emotionally honest songs. The first four lines are probably the most haunting:
- i hurt myself today
to see if i still feel
i focus on the pain
the only thing that's real
His sentiment is one that is frighteningly familiar to just about everyone who hears those lyrics. We are all aware, on some level, of the role we play in our struggles. Pain in all its forms, is a part of, if not the only, way humans build their identity and know who they are. By discovering who and what we are not, independently of the world around us, we can know who and what we ARE.
Physical Pain
The human body is a unique and beautifully constructed (albeit delicate, inefficient and short-lived) biological machine with many functions that are solely human. One of those very human functions is scarring. No other animal in the world develops the large, thick, prominent scars that are present on probably every human body in one form or another.
The difference in appearance and frequency of human scars is attributed by some to the function of scarring as way of protecting the body from infection; the faster something heals, the less the chance of infection. Another possible function of scars is to act as a physical reminder of mistakes made and what NOT to do (1).
Scars are innately fascinating, evoking a wide range of reactions ranging from sexual arousal to fear and loathing. The more prominent a scar, the stronger the reaction. It has actually been documented that strangers stand approximately a foot farther away from someone with a facial scar or disfigurement than from someone who does not, and yet, despite our revulsion, we are compelled to ask the burning question "What happened to you?" (1).
We want to ask because we all instinctively know that behind every scar there is a story, and it is often that story which "...seems to make all the difference in [the] response to it" (1). On the same token, the circumstances of the injury which results in a scar are also a determining factor in how much physical pain is experienced by the victim. A man who loses his hand in a car accident will experience more physical pain than will the man who loses his hand fighting in a war. The former man sees the loss of his hand as a tragedy because it was the only victim in the accident, but the soldier sees the loss of his hand as a symbol of his struggle and is relieved that he lost the hand and not his life (3).
Many cultures consider "...tattoos, branding, piercing and intentional scarring [a way for them] to proclaim their ancient lineage, display their bravery and attract potential mates" (1). Egyptian Pharaohs pierced their navels, Roman soldiers pierced their nipples, and piercing was used in Africa and the Americas to mark religious or coming of age rights (5).
In the modern world, however, the puritanical American/Western attitude towards such "body art" or "body modification", based on the Aristotelian ideal of the unflawed, unadorned body is seen by some as something to rebel against. Instead, these Neotribalists, as they are called, embrace humanity's tribal roots, and consider body art/modification a way of thumbing their noses at the system and to increase their self-esteem and transform themselves through the ordeal of receiving the body art (1).
The pain associated with body art is undeniable and is widely considered one of the most valuable parts of the experience. Going through the oft-times excruciating process is a way to transcend their present state of being due to the "altered state of consciousness that's probably related to the…endorphin rush that follows [the ordeal]". Body modification is still used to mark rites of passage or other significant happenings in one's life. A perfect example is how some young women get a piercing after being raped, and some Fraternities brand their members to remind them of their commitment to the group (1).
Despite the aesthetic uses of and thoughts about body modification, scarring is not always the result of accidents or unintentional injuries, or even the manifestation of one's rebellion against a repressive system. Whole groups of individuals exist who hurt themselves intentionally but without the goal of suicide as a reaction to emotional stress. Commonly these people are known as "cutters" , but to most medical professionals they are known as "borderlines" . Most often they injure themselves with razors, knives, lighters and the like. And "[f]or many patients with self-inflicted wounds, the scars [would seem to] tell the story of their illness and their attempts to heal themselves" (1).
"Cutters" and "cutting" are terms familiar to some, not so familiar to others. Most often Cutters are young people who are looking for a way to deal with extreme emotional pain and anxiety. Although Cutters are, in general, young women, the behavior is not limited solely to females. The behavior tends to progress like an addiction, becoming a compulsive act and which in severity over time, often resulting in myriad scars over one particular part of the body.
Although most self-injurers are diagnosed as having Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD (see footnote #2) because "self-inflicted injuries are a common feature of the psychiatric syndrome...Borderlines live in a no-man's-land where features of...disorders of thinking, such as schizophrenia-overlap with features of mood disorders, such as depression" (4). And, not "...all patients who cut themselves are borderlines. Some otherwise well-functioning people use the pain of a cut and the sight of blood as a way to cope with an emotional problem" (4).
Ironically, many, if not all, cutters claim the injuries they inflict on themselves do not hurt, but give them a sense of power and control. In the words of one cutter:
- People think you are suicidal...But cutting is the opposite of suicide. It's a self-preservation tactic. It may be a poor one, but it's a way to let go of pain and try to get things back under your control. (8)
Strangely enough, though, there is research to support their claim of painless injuries. "On a neurological level, the injury seems to produce natural endogenous opiates known as beta-endorphins that lead to temporary states of euphoria after the infliction of the injury" (3).
This is the aspect of cutting that would seem to have the medical world baffled, and is part of the reason for the prevalence of misdiagnosis of self-injurers. Doctors of all kinds cannot understand the way in which they "...seem to experience the trauma in a positive manner, and the subjective terrain of their experience is never identical with the causes attributed to the actions by scientists" (3).
The way in which self-mutilators look at the injuries they inflict on themselves can be understood when the "self" is looked at as being two different entities. Ariel Glucklich, in her articles "Sacred Pain and the Phenomenal Self", and "Self and Sacrifice: A Phenomenonological Psychology of Sacred Pain" defines those two entities as the "body self" and the "phenomenal self" .
Self-injurers would seem to strategically use the senses of the body-self to control the emotions of the phenomenal self. "In the words of neurologist V.S. Ramachandran, "pain is an opinion on the organism's state of health rather than a mere reflexive response to an injury" (3). If that is the case, if pain (or the perception of pain) is only an opinion of sorts, it makes perfect sense that if you change the opinion, you change the perception. Once a self-injurer has made the separation between their body and phenomenal selves-coming to complete awareness that the body self is only something experienced by the phenomenal self-and therefore allowing them to change the opinion that is pain, they can harm their bodies without the traditional reactions associated with said harm.
It is also the separation of the body and phenomenal selves that allows the difference in experience between the soldier and the man in the car. Because the phenomenal self is experiencing the situation differently, the body self reacts accordingly. This separation, according to Glucklich, is the difference between self and sacrifice, and is explained in much greater detail in her article of the same title "Self and Sacrifice".
But how, you ask, does all this information tie in with the idea that pain helps humans discover who they are? When someone receives a tattoo, piercing, or other such body modification or body art as a part of a ritual with cultural or religious significance, they are declaring that as being a basis for their identity. They are able to say to themselves, "I went through the pain and now I know I'm a part of [name of group or tribe or religion]." Being a part of that group, then, helps them develop their identity. It gives them a place to start and build from.
When a person engages in self-mutilation as a means to cope with emotional trauma, stress, or anxiety, the way in which that builds the personality becomes a lot murkier. Due to the mental conditioning of Western culture, most people react to self-injurers with horror and fail to see the albeit difficult to understand, but completely valid positive results of self-injuring.
Self-injury is used more often than not as a way to cope with negative emotions, and does more good than harm at the time it occurs. Sometimes in order for someone to remain mentally (phenomenally) intact, they must harm themselves physically (bodily). If you have a headache and then stub your toe, you immediately (if only temporarily) forget about the headache. The result of the physical harm is not that of loss and pain, but of power and control, a sense of identity is formed that has nothing to do with the body-self. The phenomenal-self transcends the body-self.
I am not saying that self-injury is the best or only means to that end, and I am certainly not promoting it as something for people who are having identity crises to start. My point is that pain is an integral part of the physical existence of humans, and that we use pain as a tool to define where our body ends and personalities/phenomenal selves begin. Our scars, the tattoos, piercings, brands, disfigurements, even those from self-inflicted wounds, are the seemingly foreign language of our mental journey towards self-discovery in a complex and ever changing human landscape.
"Cutters" are people who physically harm themselves as a means of coping with emotional stress, using physical pain to control emotional pain.
Borderline Personality Disorder or BPD. Many people who are diagnosed with BPD only display "...only 48% of...the DSM criteria for BPD. When self-injury was excluded as a factor, only 28% of the sample met the criteria." In fact, upon "interviews, people who engage in repetitive self-injury have reported being diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, anorexia, bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, many of the dissociative disorders...anxiety and panic disorders, and impulse-control disorder not otherwise specified." (9)
The physical body, which Glucklich describes as "...a neurological template…the 'neurosignature'" which can be broken up into two parts. "The first...is the 'body schema," which accounts, from a neurological perspective, for the organism's ability to operate consistently and effectively within enourmously complex and shifting physical environments. The...'body image' is the phenomenal or experiential face of the body schema. It is the sense that the agent has of 'owning' a cohesive and coordinated body-self." (3)
The non-corporeal personality, or mind; the place where biological organization becomes an experience.
Bibliography
1. Austin, Elizabeth. "Marks of Mystery".
Psychology Today. July 1999.
2. Glucklich, Ariel. "Sacred Pain and the Phenomenal Self". Harvard Theological Review. October, 1998.
3. Glucklich, Ariel. "Self and Sacrifice: A Phenomenonological Psychology of Sacred Pain". Harvard Theological Review. October 1999.
4. Grim, Pamela. "Cut to the Quick (borderline personality disorder case study)". Discover. July, 2000.
5. Kinnon, Joy Bennett. "PIERCED to Death". Ebony. April, 2000.
6. Nesse, Randolph M. "The Evolution of Hope and Despair". Social Research. Summer, 1999.
7. Nickell, Joe. "Sitgmata: In Imitation of Christ". Skeptical Inquirer. July, 2000.
8. Rochman, Sue. "The Cutting Edge". Advocate: the national gay & lesbian news magazine. May 23, 2000.
9. Secret Shame (http://www.kidsindrugfreesociety.com/~llama/psych/intro.html#intro)