ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the complex topic of self-immolation, or setting oneself on fire, in an effort to identify the factors contributing to its current prevalence. The chapter also discusses the recent psychological theory of suicide and its relevance to the understanding of self-immolation. Self-immolation is rare in the Western world and accounts for less than 1" of all suicide attempts in the United States. Cultural explanations of women taking their own lives by self-immolation in India are oriented around the concept of sati. While long-standing cultural factors appear to have contributed to the relative prevalence of self-immolation in Iran and India, its use as a form of sociopolitical protest has recently become more pronounced in India, Vietnam and Tibet. One recently developed theory of suicide was the Joiner's Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. Other theoretical perspectives on suicide draw from cognitive behavioural theory, and attribute a range of causal factors.
