Transcultural Aspects of Suicide by Self-Immolation

Abstract

Self-immolation often gains international media coverage in high and middle-income countries where it usually occurs as a rare symbolic display of political protest among men. In low-income countries it is highly prevalent, primarily affects women, and may be one of the most common suicide methods in regions of Central and South Asia and parts of Africa. Suicide by self-immolation is featured with grave concern by humanitarian organizations and international media. Family dynamics that include intimate partner violence, forced marriages, and interpersonal family conflicts in a cultural context of patriarchy, limited women’s rights, poor access to mental health services, war related life events, poverty, forced migration and ethnic conflicts are important factors contributing to suicide by self-immolation in low-and-middle-income countries. However, in some situations, psychiatric disorders such as adjustment, traumatic stress and depressive disorders may also be responsible or add to the risk. This chapter addresses the transcultural antecedents of suicide by self-immolation, highlighting the cultural climate of populations at risk. By reframing the clinical approach to suicide in a way that emphasizes relevant environmental and transcultural determinants, caregivers of psychologically fragile and socially disenfranchised individuals may be better equipped to prevent alienation and suicide in high risk populations.

“… the pain of not enjoying any basic human rights is far greater than the pain of self-immolation”

(Excerpt from suicide note recorded by Tibetans Sonam and Choepak Kyap)

“Violence in the lives of Afghanistan’s women comes from everywhere: from her father or brother, from her husband, from her father-in-law, from her mother-in-law and sister-in-law”

(Dr. Shafiqa Eanin, plastic surgeon in the Herat Burn Hospital, Afghanistan, interviewed by the New York Times)