Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:58:55.530Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Intentional Self Burning by Psychiatric Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Geraldine O'Sullivan  and
Michael J Kelleher
Geraldine O'Sullivan
Affiliation:
Research Worker/Honorary Senior Registrar, Maudsley Hospital, London
Michael J Kelleher
Affiliation:
Clinical Director, St Annes's Hospital, Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Suicide and attempted suicide are common phenomena amongst psychiatric inpatients and outpatients. Self-immolation or self-incineration are dramatic attention seeking events which may have religious or political significance. Deliberate self burning which incorporate these may also encapsulate elements of attention seeking, parasuicidal and suicide behaviour. The present study shows that psychiatric inpatients who choose to injure themselves by self burning are a seriously disturbed group whose intention is largely suicidal and who have a previous history of attempted suicide. They tend to be female, single, suffering from either schizophrenia or personality disorder in contrast to the majority of people who take their lives by other methods who tend to suffer from depression, alcoholism or both.

Keywords

SuicideParasuicideFiresetting BehaviourSelf-burningSelf-incinerationSelf-immolationForensic PsychiatrySuicide, attempted
Type
Clinical and Brief Reports
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 1989 , pp. 41 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Crosby, K, Rhee, JO, Holland, JSuicide by fire: a contemporary method of political protest. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 1977; 23: 160–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Anderson, NC, Noyes, RSuicide attempted by self-immolation. Am J Psychiatry 1975; 132: 554–6Google Scholar
3.Jacobsen, R, Jackson, M, Berelowitz, MSelf-incineration: a controlled comparison of inpatient suicide attempts. Clinical features and history of self-harm. Psychological Medicine 1986; 16: 107–116CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Modan, B, Nissenkorn, I, Lewkowski, SRcomparative epidemiological aspects of suicide and attempted suicide in Israel. Am J Epidemiol 1970; 9: 383–9Google Scholar
5.O'Sullivan, GH & Kelleher, MJA study of firesetters in the South West of Ireland. Br J Psychiatry 1987; 151: 818–823CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Barraclough, BM, Bunch, J, Nelson, B, Sainsury, P, a hundred cases of suicide: clinical aspects. Br J Psychiatry 1974; 125: 355–373CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Topp, DO, Fire as a symbol and as a weapon of death. Medicine, Science and the law 1973; 13: 79–86CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Ashdon, JR, Dunner, SSuicide by burning as an epidemic phenomenon: an analysis of 82 deaths and inquests in England and Wales in 1978-79. Psychological Medicine 1981; 11: 735–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar