Images of God used by self-injurious burn patients

Suicide by burning and other forms of self-injurious behaviors which involve burning are sometimes considered to have religious overtones. The ritual death of widows upon their husband’s funeral pyre is closely associated with Hindu beliefs. Buddhists have used self-immolation as a form of protest....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Burns 1999-08, Vol.25 (5), p.443-448
Main Authors: Grossoehme, D.H, Springer, L.S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Biological and medical sciences
Burns
Burns - psychology
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Disorders - psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Religion
Self-inflicted injury
Self-Injurious Behavior - psychology
Suicide
Suicide, Attempted - psychology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Suicide by burning and other forms of self-injurious behaviors which involve burning are sometimes considered to have religious overtones. The ritual death of widows upon their husband’s funeral pyre is closely associated with Hindu beliefs. Buddhists have used self-immolation as a form of protest. The Judaeo-Christian traditions have imagery of fire as cleansing and purifying; there is also secular imagery associating fire with images of condemnation and evil. Previous studies have described religiosity as a common theme among survivors. The present study describes the ways in which persons who inflicted self-injurious behaviors through burning, including attempted suicide, imagine the Divinity and use religious language to give meaning to their experience.
ISSN:0305-4179
1879-1409
DOI:10.1016/S0305-4179(99)00016-9