Overview

Based on detailed interviews with twenty adult burn survivors, Journeys Through Hell examines self, identity and social reality. Stouffer integrates theoretical perspectives with the survivors' own words to show how trauma affects the survivor's worldview, how support and acceptance are achieved, and how such an achievement is embedded within a social process involving not only the survivor but also doctors, nurses, therapists, friends and family members.

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Reviews

It is through the surfaces of our bodies that our mutual identities are displayed. Burns disrupt that surface while pain disrupts the psyche. In this fascinating book the author follows in detail the reconstruction of identities damaged in both these ways. There are no easy answers, but much to be learned from the variety of patterns of rebuilding.--Harre, Rom

This kind of personal testament, admixed with sociological knowledge, adds so much more to the knowledge of the field than the popular statistical aridities we generally get. This book is a major contribution and should be in the public eye as soon as possible. -- Norman R. Bernstein, Harvard Medical School In describing how survivors cope with their altered lives, Journeys Through Hell serves as a model for how the survivor (of the holocaust, of rape, of a sudden disability resulting from an accident, possibly the acquiring of AIDS, etc.) discovers and constructs both personal and social meanings relative to his or her injury. This manuscript is indeed a significant contribution to scholarship. -- Louise Levesque-Lopman, Regis College This is a brilliant, interpretive, pathbreaking study of catastrophic burn victims. Written from a victum's point of view, this existentially grounded inquiry charts the moral career of the burn survivor, showing how lives are shattered and then reassembled with dignity and new self-awareness, almost always with the help of loved ones and other co-survivors. A bench mark for future studies. -- Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign It is through the surfaces of our bodies that our mutual identities are displayed. Burns disrupt that surface while pain disrupts the psyche. In this fascinating book the author follows in detail the reconstruction of identities damaged in both these ways. There are no easy answers, but much to be learned from the variety of patterns of rebuilding. -- Rom Harre, Philosophy Centre, United Kingdom ... a vivid portrait ... Stouffer's research is clear, and its findings are compelling... insightful analysis ... a valuable resource ... Contemporary Sociology

This kind of personal testament, admixed with sociological knowledge, adds so much more to the knowledge of the field than the popular statistical aridities we generally get. This book is a major contribution and should be in the public eye as soon as possible. -- Norman R. Bernstein, Harvard Medical School In describing how survivors cope with their altered lives, Journeys Through Hell serves as a model for how the survivor (of the holocaust, of rape, of a sudden disability resulting from an accident, possibly the acquiring of AIDS, etc.) discovers and constructs both personal and social meanings relative to his or her injury. This manuscript is indeed a significant contribution to scholarship. -- Louise LevesqueLopman, Regis College This is a brilliant, interpretive, pathbreaking study of catastrophic burn victims. Written from a victum's point of view, this existentially grounded inquiry charts the moral career of the burn survivor, showing how lives are shattered and then reassembled with dignity and new self-awareness, almost always with the help of loved ones and other co-survivors. A bench mark for future studies. -- Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign. It is through the surfaces of our bodies that our mutual identities are displayed. Burns disrupt that surface while pain disrupts the psyche. In this fascinating book the author follows in detail the reconstruction of identities damaged in both these ways. There are no easy answers, but much to be learned from the variety of patterns of rebuilding. -- Rom Harre, Philosophy Centre, United Kingdom ... a vivid portrait ... Stouffer's research is clear, and its findings are compelling... insightful analysis ... a valuable resource ... Contemporary Sociology

Author Information

Dennis J. Stouffer is a member of the Board of Directors of the Alisa Ann Ruch California Burn Foundation and an Emergency Planning and Management Specialist for Hughes Aircraft Company. He has a Ph.D. in Sociology (University of California, Union Institute) and has done extensive research on the long term consequences of burn injury.

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