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. 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.