History Main / SelfInflictedHell

* In the religious film ''Anime/TheLawsOfEternity'' Ryuta and Yuko venture with God Eagle into Hell to rescue Patrick and Roberto. As they keep descending, GE explains each tier of Hell, which is tailor-made for a specific sin. Earlier on, he explained to the gang that the Spirit World is a reflection of one's mind, so those with "sinful" thoughts are deemed more fit for Hell. However, as Yuko's dialogue with Helen Keller, Florence Nightingale, and Mother Theresa in the Bodhisattva Realm can explain, there ''is'' a way to escape Hell, and it's acknowledging the "truth of Buddha."

* ''Film/WhatDreamsMayCome'' revolves around this. Interestingly, Heaven is also self-inflicted.

--->''"Ten billion years spent providing a place for dead mortals to torture themselves. And like all masochists, they called the shots -- 'Burn me', 'Freeze me', 'Eat me', 'Hurt me'. And we did."\\
"They live their own tiny lives. I do not live their lives for them. And then they die, and they come here (having transgressed against what they believed to be right), and expect us to fulfill their desire for pain and retributions. I don't make them come here."''

--->'''Unspoken Principle''': [[spoiler:You can leave whenever you want.]]

-->'''Dragon''': ''You mean - if I firmly believed that I'd spend the rest of eternity making mad, passionate love to a bevy of leggy super-models - I'd get that?''\\
'''God''': ''Yes.''

* ''Fanfic/AlwaysVisible'': It is implied that Galbraith is going crazy as the plot progresses.

* At the start of ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'', Arthur, Ford, Trillian, and Random have -- from their own perspectives -- spent several decades in a personal Heaven courtesy of the ''Guide'' Mk II. Arthur relaxes on a beach with all the tea he wants. Ford spends time at a resort where he has all the parties, {{gargle blaster}}s and sex he wants while his health and chin steadily improve. Random unites Earth and is elected President of the Galaxy. Trillian gets to become the most respected journalist in the galaxy, but it ends up being Hell for her.
* In the world of the ''Literature/ColdfireTrilogy'', belief shapes reality. Hell only exists because the priests told their followers that it did. That is the precise reason why the founder of the religion deliberately did ''not'' have any mention of Hell in his original writings: To make it not exist. [[spoiler:When the religion he created turned against him, he made a DealWithTheDevil (which involved sacrificing his wife, two of his children, and his humanity) to escape the hell his former followers created for him.]]

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books exploit and subvert this concept in all kinds of ways, including (in ''Literature/InterestingTimes'') a part-time barbarian qualifying for a [[WarriorHeaven Valhalla equivalent]] because he sort of half-believed in his colleagues' beliefs and then started fully believing it just before he died, and a man who did not believe in ghosts being pursued through the afterlife by his victims because ''they believe in him''.

* Invoked, and magnificently denied, in ''The Greatest Torment'', by the false Swedenborg, written in (1873) - the real Swedenborg is documented below in Other:

* OlderThanPrint: Though the rest of the ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'' delights in IronicHell, Dante demonstrates how Satan, at the center of Hell in its deepest circle, is in the worst self-inflicted Hell of all: his six wings flap constantly, freezing the lake around him and leaving him stuck fast in the ice. Why does he keep flapping his wings? Because he wants to return to Heaven. Where did the water of the frozen lake come from? They are a mixture of the water flowing down from the other four rivers and Satan's ''tears,'' as he is weeping, having separated himself from the source of all his now-lost beauty and power.
** It ''is'' possible to [[EscapedFromHell escape from Hell]], even if it is known to be a place known for its unscalable, inescapable walls. The only thing you need to do is to go deeper and on the opposite direction, as Satan's prison is also the location of a tunnel that leads to Purgatory. Implying that, if a person is willing to suffer greatly for their sins even more, they will indeed find freedom.

* OlderThanPrint: Though the rest of the ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'' delights in IronicHell, Dante demonstrates how Satan, at the center of Hell in its deepest circle, is in the worst self-inflicted Hell of all: his six wings flap constantly, freezing the lake around him and leaving him stuck fast in the ice. Why does he keep flapping his wings? Because he wants to return to Heaven. Where did the water of the frozen lake come from? They are Satan's ''tears,'' as he is weeping, having separated himself from the source of all his now-lost beauty and power.

* In his comic book ''Comicbook/SwampThing'', Creator/AlanMoore explained (decreed?) that the afterlife of the DC universe depends entirely on what the dead expect will happen, be it Heaven, Hell, or reincarnation. It is also possible to trap an innocent in Hell by convincing them that you have the power to do so. This concept has been used in other [[Franchise/TheDCU DC]] and Creator/VertigoComics, such as ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'' and ''Comicbook/TheSandman''. However, it's also been ignored on occasion due to story requirements or editorial lapses.

* In Issue #36 of ''Comicbook/TarotWitchOfTheBlackRose'', Jon ventures into a hole to a vast Hell Dimension that Crypt Chick was taken too. After finding Crypt Chick and intending on escaping, he calls out to the thousands of souls trapped there and tells them that he will bring them along if they choose. They all call out to him and are suddenly free of their imprisonment, their souls rising into the heavens as the sun rises.