January 26, 2007

The Source of Violence in Society

To the Editor:

It is hard not to find oneself in agreement with much of Joan Jacobs Brumberg's central thesis that "the violent nature of our society provides a hospitable climate for self-mutilation" ("Are We Facing an Epidemic of Self-Injury?," The Chronicle Review, December 8). Citing Karl Menninger, the visionary and prolific psychiatrist, Professor Brumberg adds that the "troubled almost always choose symptoms that borrow from the cultural material of the times in which they