Armando Favazza
Encyclopedia
Armando Favazza is an American author and psychiatrist best known for his studies of cultural psychiatry, deliberate self-harm, and religion. Favazza's Bodies Under Siege
: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry (1987) was the first 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" [135:293-303,1978] and "Modern Christian Healing of Mental Illness" [139:728-735,1982]. In 1979 he co-founded The Society for the Study of Culture and Psychiatry.
, New York City and attended Columbia University
. He studied medicine at the University of Virginia
and completed a psychiatry residency
program at the University of Michigan
. In the 1970s, he became editor of the Journal of Operational Psychiatry. He is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Psychiatry
at the University of Missouria. On July 26, 1991, the Senate of the State of Missouri
passed a resolution commending him for his "unparalleled record of service, support, and leadership at the University of Missouri” He is a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists
and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association
. He has presented lectures at sixty American and Canadian universities including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Baylor, Mayo Clinic, McGill, Toronto, UCLA, UC San Diego, Emory, Tulane, and Minnesota. His international lectures include University College (London), the Karolinska Institution (Stockholm), the Universities of Rome and of Florence, and the Jinnah Postgraduate Center in Karachi.
(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
, he took her place as author of the chapter on Psychiatry
and Anthropology
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
for nine years and is on the Editorial Board of the World Cultural Psychiatry Research Review.
, was the first psychiatric book on the topic and, according to Jennifer Egan
in The New York Times
, 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). Favazza was the first person to classify self-mutilative (now more commonly called self-injurious) behaviors. 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, although 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
.
Bodies Under Siege
Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry is the title of a book written by psychiatrist Dr. Armando Favazza, and published in 1987.Bodies Under Siege was the first psychiatric book on self-harm...
: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry (1987) was the first 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" [135:293-303,1978] and "Modern Christian Healing of Mental Illness" [139:728-735,1982]. 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 BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York City and attended Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He studied medicine at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
and completed a psychiatry residency
Residency (medicine)
Residency is a stage of graduate medical training. A resident physician or resident is a person who has received a medical degree , Podiatric degree , Dental Degree and who practices...
program at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. In the 1970s, he became editor of the Journal of Operational Psychiatry. He is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
at the University of Missouria. On July 26, 1991, the Senate of the State of Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
passed a resolution commending him for his "unparalleled record of service, support, and leadership at the University of Missouri” He is a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists
American College of Psychiatrists
The American College of Psychiatrists is an association of psychiatrists based in Chicago. It operates annual meetings, publishes a newsletter, presents awards, and organizes the PRITE exam for psychiatric residents and the PIPE exam for practicing psychiatrists...
and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
. He has presented lectures at sixty American and Canadian universities including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Baylor, Mayo Clinic, McGill, Toronto, UCLA, UC San Diego, Emory, Tulane, and Minnesota. His international lectures include University College (London), the Karolinska Institution (Stockholm), the Universities of Rome and of Florence, and the Jinnah Postgraduate Center in Karachi.
Cultural psychiatry
His cover article, "The Foundation of Cultural Psychiatry", in the American Journal of PsychiatryAmerican Journal of Psychiatry
The American Journal of Psychiatry is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of psychiatry and the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association. The first volume was issued in 1844, at which time it was known as the American Journal of Insanity...
(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
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
, he took her place as author of the chapter on Psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
and Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
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
World Psychiatric Association
The World Psychiatric Association is an international umbrella organisation of psychiatric societies.-Objectives and goals:Originally created to produce world psychiatric congresses, it has evolved to hold regional meetings, to promote professional education and to set ethical, scientific and...
for nine years and is on the Editorial Board of the World Cultural Psychiatry Research Review.
Deliberate self-harm
His 1987 book, Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and PsychiatryBodies Under Siege
Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry is the title of a book written by psychiatrist Dr. Armando Favazza, and published in 1987.Bodies Under Siege was the first psychiatric book on self-harm...
, was the first psychiatric book on the topic and, according to Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan is an American novelist and short story writer who lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Egan's novel A Visit From the Goon Squad won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction....
in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, 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). Favazza was the first person to classify self-mutilative (now more commonly called self-injurious) behaviors. 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, although 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
Bodies Under Siege
Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry is the title of a book written by psychiatrist Dr. Armando Favazza, and published in 1987.Bodies Under Siege was the first psychiatric book on self-harm...
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
Richard Rosenthal
Richard R. Rosenthal, MD is an allergist and immunologist practicing in the Washington D.C. area. He co-invented and patented the Rosenthal-French dosimeter. The Rosenthal-French Dosimeter set the standard for allergists to accurately control the aerosol dosing of patients with upper-respiratory...
.
Religion
His 2004 book, PsychoBible: Behavior, Religion, and the Holy Book, received the Creative Scholarship Award presented by the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture. 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.Media appearances
He has made national television and radio appearances around the world including- MSNBC [nationwide], August, 1008
- BBC, London, October 2006
- NPR (nationwide), July 2005
- Discovery Health Channel, “Humanimals,” December 2003
- National Geographic TV, “Sacred Pain,” December 2002
- 20/20 Downtown, October, 1999
- Health TV Network, July, 1999
- On Health Live, Brook Gladstone, July, 1999
- 20/20, April, 1998
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation, June, 1996
- CBS, Last Call Show, February, 1995
- CNN Radio Network, April, 1994
- NBC, Dr. Dean Show, October, 1992
- CBS, KPIX TV, People Are Talking Show, 1990
Books
- Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and PsychiatryBodies Under SiegeBodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry is the title of a book written by psychiatrist Dr. Armando Favazza, and published in 1987.Bodies Under Siege was the first psychiatric book on self-harm...
(1987, 1996). ISBN 0-8018-5299-4, 0-8018-5300-1 (pbk) - PsychoBible: Behavior, Religion and the Holy Book (2004). ISBN 0-9728875-0-4, 0-9728875-1-2 (pbk)