MEDtube Science 2015 - Pain threshold – self- inflicted injuries with the intent to commit suicide

Every human being is a unique entity characterized by different pain thresholds. It may be assumed that the limits of pain actually exist. In the court-appointed physician’s practice, there exist self-mutilation suicide cases which are distinguished by numerous and severe body injuries. People who commit suicide in this manner have different pain inflicted perception than others. Otherwise, it would be beyond their capacity to harm themselves and inflict such damage and pain on their body. From the psychiatry perspective, self-mutilation is defined as intentional and deliberate injury infliction on one’s own body, a self-destructive behavior. This type of behavior may be of non-suicidal nature but often directly leading to death. Article shows a few cases, which were seen in the department of forensic medicine of Warsaw Medical University. This article showes that suicide cases with extensive self-harm done on body are interesting, not only from the standpoint of debate on self-injury inclination, but also from the standpoint of going beyond human physiological barriers associated with containing typical body’s response to pain stimuli. While the discussion drew attention to the possible potential mechanisms explaining this phenomenon, yet this topic requires further study.