Am J Psychiatry 1975; 132:554-556
Copyright © 1975 by American Psychiatric Association
Suicide attempted by self-immolation
NC Andreasen and R Noyes Jr
The authors found that 14 individuals who had attempted suicide by self-
immolation all had psychiatric illness (most were psychotic), and many had
religious preoccupations. There was a reversal of the usual male to female
ratios for burn injury and for successful suicide--all 5 completed suicides
were women. Although self-immolation as social protest was widely
publicized during the years surveyed, the authors note that these
individuals all attempted suicide for personal and irrational rather than
morally idealistic reasons.
