The authors found that 14 individuals who had attempted suicide by self-immolation all had psychiatric illness & many had religious preoccupations. There was a reversal of the usual male to female ratios for burn unjury & for successful suicide-all 5 completed suicides were women. Although self-immolation as social protest was widely publicized during the years surveyed, the authors note that these individuals all attempted suicide for personal & irrational rather than idealistic reasons.