Self-Immolation in Kermanshah City, Iran; a Serious Suicide Intention

Aims The reason of selecting self-immolationas a mean to commit suicide is unclear. Thisstudy was designed to compare 2 groups of people with and without intention to suicide thathad self-immolated.Instrument & Methods All 227 self-immolated patients who had been admitted to theburnunit of Imam Khomeini Hospital of Kermanshah City, Iran, during 2003 to 2004 participatedin this cross-sectional study. All the samples and their families were interviewed and apsychiatrist completed DSM-IV symptom checklist. Data were analyzed by SPSS 11 usingdescriptive statistic methods, two-sample T and Chi-square tests.Findings 126 of the patients (55.5%) had suicidal intent and 97 (42.7%) reported priorsuicidal plan.The mortality rate of the suicidal intent patients was 61.1% and non-suicidalintent patients was 36.6%. Personality disorder was the only psychiatric problem that wassignificantly different between two groups of patients with and without intent of suicide.Conclusion Self-immolation cannot be considered as a suicidal attempt in Kermanshah City, Iran.

Keywords:

Self-immolation , Suicide , Suicide , Attempted