Armando Favazza (born 1941 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City) is an

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

n author and psychiatrist best known for his studies of cultural psychiatry, deliberate self-harm, and religion. Favazza's '' Bodies Under Siege:

Self-mutilation Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and se ...

in Culture and Psychiatry'' (1987) was an early psychiatric book on this topic. His 2004 work, ''PsychoBible: Behavior, Religion, and the Holy Book'' presents objective data regarding commonly held misconceptions about the Bible as a whole as well as its major passages. In Kaplan and Sadock's ''Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry'' he has written the chapter on "Anthropology and Psychiatry" in the 3rd edition (1980), the 4th edition (1985) and the 8th edition (2005), as well as the chapter on "Spirituality and Psychiatry" in the 9th edition (2009). He has published two cover articles in the ''American Journal of Psychiatry'': "Foundations of Cultural Psychiatry" 35:293-303,1978and "Modern Christian Healing of Mental Illness" 39:728-735,1982 In 1979 he co-founded The Society for the Study of Culture and Psychiatry.

Biography

Armando Favazza was born in 1941. he grew up in

, New York City, and attended

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He studied medicine at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

and completed a psychiatry

residency Residency may refer to: * Artist-in-residence, a program to sponsor the residence and work of visual artists, writers, musicians, etc. * Concert residency, a series of concerts performed at one venue * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or m ...

program at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. In the 1970s, he became editor of the ''Journal of Operational Psychiatry''. He is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of

Psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

Fields of work

Cultural psychiatry

His cover article, "The Foundation of Cultural Psychiatry", in the ''

American Journal of Psychiatry ''The American Journal of Psychiatry'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of psychiatry, and is the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association. The first volume was issued in 1844, at which time it was k ...

'' (1978) presented a framework for a new discipline merging cultural anthropology with clinical psychiatry. Cultural psychiatry is an approach that synthesizes the biological, psychological, and social forces that impinge upon behavior, and explains their interactions through a cultural lens to therapeutically benefit individuals or groups affected by death, disease, and disorganization. Upon the death of his former teacher,

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker, who appeared frequently in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Col ...

, he took her place as the author of the chapter on

and

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

in the third edition of ''The Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry'' (1980). He has written updated chapters for editions in 1985 and 2005. He was elected the American representative on the executive board of the Transcultural Psychiatry Section of the

World Psychiatric Association The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) is an international Umbrella organization, umbrella organisation of psychiatric societies. Objectives and goals Originally created to produce world psychiatric congresses, it has evolved to hold regional ...

for nine years. He is on the editorial board of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry Research Review.

Deliberate self-harm

His 1987 book, '' Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry'', a psychiatric book on the topic of self-harm, according to

Jennifer Egan Jennifer Egan (born September 7, 1962) is an American novelist and short-story writer. Her novel, ''A Visit from the Goon Squad,'' won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. From 2018 to 2020, she ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', was "the first to comprehensively explore self-mutilation". The second edition (1996), subtitled ''Self-Mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry'', has been called the "seminal book on NSSI" (nonsuicidal self-injury). He describes deliberate self-injury as a morbid form of self-help, temporarily alleviating distressing symptoms, and, attempting to heal themselves, to attain some measure of spirituality, and to establish a sense of personal order. He helped to teach clinicians that self-injurious behavior totally differs from suicidal behavior. However, repetitive skin-cutters may develop a Deliberate Self-Harm syndrome which includes demoralization and a tendency to overdose. The “secret shame” website contains a supervised Bodies Under Siege bulletin board that allows self-injurers to communicate with one another. Collaborators with Favazza on his publications in this area include Karen Conterio, Daphne Simeon, and Richard Rosenthal.

Religion

His book ''PsychoBible, PsychoBible: Behavior, Religion, and the Holy Book'' was published in 2004. After an overview of the Bible's contents as well as the process that leads to the Bible's creation, the book includes chapters on God, the devil, sin, women, alcohol, animals, the human body, spirituality, and healing. Favazza presents data on the Bible, on how Christians and Jews over the centuries have interpreted these data, and how psychiatry regards them. The book points to Biblical material that has been validated by scholars as well as material that requires faith.

Books

* ''Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation, Nonsuicidal Self-injury, and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry,'' Third edition (2011). , (pbk) * '' Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry'' (1987, 1996). , (pbk) * ''PsychoBible: Behavior, Religion and the Holy Book'' (2004). , (pbk) * ''Themes in Cultural Psychiatry: An Annotated Bibliography, 1975-1980'', with Ahmed D. Faheem (1982). (hardcover) * ''Anthropological and Cross-Cultural Themes in Mental Health: An Annotated Bibliography, 1975-1980'', with Mary Oman (1977). (hardcover)

References

External links

Bodies Under Siege Community
{{DEFAULTSORT:Favazza, Armando American psychiatrists American male writers 1941 births Living people University of Missouri faculty University of Michigan alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni University of Virginia alumni