An alleged reduction of sensitivity to pain in people with schizophrenia has been reported, but the nature of this complex phenomenon has not been elucidated yet. Reports of insensitivity to burns from people with schizophrenia are extremely rare. We report the case of a 24-year-old man who set both of his arms on fire during the first break of paranoid schizophrenia. As a result of severe tissue damage, both of his limbs had to be amputated.
Five to 13% of people with schizophrenia will commit suicide and often do so by unusual methods, including incineration [1, 2], and especially in the early stages of the disease...
While he recited the Lord’s Prayer, he approached the fire with his eyes closed and his clothes ignited. Our patient just remembers having experienced a slight feeling of heat but no pain. His relatives found him praying aloud, with his arms still on the pyre and, surprisingly, the patient looked indifferent...
It should be noted that different experiences and reactions to pain are also seen in other neuropsychiatric disorders such as major depression and bipolar disorder, eating disorders, Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and some personality disorders...