How do people set fire to themselves knowing the pain?

[alltoomuch2]

Thinking about the guy who set fire to himself outside Donald Trump's court case, unless you are so severely mentally ill that you aren't aware of pain, how do people have the guts to set fire to themselves. I've heard that usually you inhale the flames and you become unconscious very quickly at a result, but that guy was covered in huge flames and he was able to shoult and move around for minutes. Would ketamine stop you feeling the pain, or anything else? How do people do it?

 

[anastenka]

Sheer determination? most cases of self-immolation, especially in the past, were planned as an extreme form of protest; a type of altruistic suicide for a collective cause. It is very carefully executed in these incidences and the sufferer is aware of the pain that they will have to endure, but do so anyway to make a statement.

 

[lebrodude]

Yeah they are very brave individuals.
No matter what mental anguish I was in that method is completely off the table for me.

 

[Jorms_McGander]

I think it's easy: you can't imagine that pain until you're in it, and frankly, they are not bearing the pain. They are dying on fire in extreme agony, until the burns destroy nerve endings I suppose. Then, it is simply as hard as covering yourself in disgusting volatile hydrocarbons, which is a very taboo act--consider pouring gasoline right on your head? Seems wrong doesn't it. It's just as hard as doing that and sparking a lighter. The rest is beyond your control, and then you die.

There is one I'm aware of who bore the pain and that is the Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc who self-immolated to protest the Vietnam-USA war of the 60s and 70s, and who is also in my contemporary historical lens the first [but nothing is new under the sun] of these self-immolations and the act which all self-immolations we witness are referencing. No doubt you will recognise the scene below:


I'd never consider it because I think the statement is only properly made if you can bear the pain. If it was possible to self-immolate while screaming and have that say "I'd rather die on fire than live in this world", then Thich Quang Duc ended that by saying "I can bear the pain of burning to death but I cannot bear the pain of what is being done to my country".

 

[Neowise]

I saw the video on the internet, and I've also watched other self-immolation recordings. What surprised me every time was that the individuals didn't act like they were in extreme pain. Often they just calmly walk a few steps forward and then sit down and wait, but they never try to extinguish themselves. Now I'm not saying they don't feel any pain, but what if the pain is so great it puts you into a state of shock which makes you numb to the pain?

 

[alltoomuch2]

I saw the video on the internet, and I've also watched other self-immolation recordings. What surprised me every time was that the individuals didn't act like they were in extreme pain. Often they just calmly walk a few steps forward and then sit down and wait, but they never try to extinguish themselves. Now I'm not saying they don't feel any pain, but what if the pain is so great it puts you into a state of shock which makes you numb to the pain?

That's why I wondered if they'd taken something really strong. He was certainly still walking around and shouting his message.

 

[Jorms_McGander]

That's why I wondered if they'd taken something really strong. He was certainly still walking around and shouting his message.

Then it's shock and the destruction of nerve endings working to assist most likely.

 

[thenamingofcats]

I think it's easy: you can't imagine that pain until you're in it, and frankly, they are not bearing the pain.

This is it. They don't know what the pain will be like until they do it. It's beyond our ability to imagine what it feels like.