Citation

Romm S, Combs H, Klein MB. J. Burn Care Res. 2008; 29(6): 988-993.

Affiliation

From the *Department of Psychiatry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; and daggerBurn Center and Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, American Burn Association, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/BCR.0b013e31818b9ed4

PMID

18849845

Abstract

Accounts of self-inflicted death by fire are numerous and are found from antiquity to present times. We review selected examples of self-immolation from historical record, in mythology and as part of religious and cultural tradition. We discuss the use of self-immolation as a literary device in the arts including fiction, opera, movies, and song. We offer motives for this horrifying act and discuss how it has been used as a form of protest for political reasons or for individual maltreatment or as a means to end intense personal suffering. Finally, we explore what setting oneself alight may represent from a psychodynamic perspective.

Language: en