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Pyromania, a type of mania
Mania

Mania is a severe medical condition characterized by extremely elevated mood, energy, unusual thought patterns and sometimes psychosis. There are several possible causes for mania including drug abuse and brain tumours, but it is most often associated with bipolar disorder, where episodes of mania may cyclically alternate with episodes of ma...
, is an impulse to deliberately start fire
Fire

Fire is the oxidation of a combustion material releasing heat, light, and various Chemical reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water....
s to relieve tension and typically includes feelings of gratification or relief afterward. Pyromania is distinct from arson
Arson

Arson is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example....
, and pyromaniacs are also distinct from those who start fires because of psychosis
Psychosis

Psychosis , with adjective psychotic, literally means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatry term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"....
, for personal, monetary or political gain, or for acts of revenge
Revenge

Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group as a response to a wrongdoing. Although many aspects of revenge resemble the concept of justice, revenge connotes a more injurious and punishment focus as opposed to a harmonious and restorative one....
. Pyromaniacs start fires to induce euphoria
Euphoria (emotion)

Euphoria is medically recognized as an emotional and mental state defined as a sense of great happiness and quality_of_life. Technically, euphoria is an affect , but the term is often colloquially used to define emotion as an intense, Wiktionary:transcendent happiness combined with an overwhelming sense of well-being....
, and often tend to fixate on institutions of fire control like fire station
Fire station

A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighter apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment....
s and firefighter
Firefighter

Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car accidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations....
s.

mania is a very rare disorder, and the incidence of it is less than one percent in most studies; also, pyromaniacs are a very small proportion of psychiatric hospital admissions.






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Pyromania, a type of mania
Mania

Mania is a severe medical condition characterized by extremely elevated mood, energy, unusual thought patterns and sometimes psychosis. There are several possible causes for mania including drug abuse and brain tumours, but it is most often associated with bipolar disorder, where episodes of mania may cyclically alternate with episodes of ma...
, is an impulse to deliberately start fire
Fire

Fire is the oxidation of a combustion material releasing heat, light, and various Chemical reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water....
s to relieve tension and typically includes feelings of gratification or relief afterward. Pyromania is distinct from arson
Arson

Arson is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example....
, and pyromaniacs are also distinct from those who start fires because of psychosis
Psychosis

Psychosis , with adjective psychotic, literally means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatry term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"....
, for personal, monetary or political gain, or for acts of revenge
Revenge

Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group as a response to a wrongdoing. Although many aspects of revenge resemble the concept of justice, revenge connotes a more injurious and punishment focus as opposed to a harmonious and restorative one....
. Pyromaniacs start fires to induce euphoria
Euphoria (emotion)

Euphoria is medically recognized as an emotional and mental state defined as a sense of great happiness and quality_of_life. Technically, euphoria is an affect , but the term is often colloquially used to define emotion as an intense, Wiktionary:transcendent happiness combined with an overwhelming sense of well-being....
, and often tend to fixate on institutions of fire control like fire station
Fire station

A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighter apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment....
s and firefighter
Firefighter

Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car accidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations....
s.

Demographics

Pyromania is a very rare disorder, and the incidence of it is less than one percent in most studies; also, pyromaniacs are a very small proportion of psychiatric hospital admissions. Pyromania can occur in children as young as age three, but it is rare in adults and rarer in children. Only a small percentage of children and adolescents arrested for arson have pyromania. Ninety percent of those diagnosed with pyromania are male. Based on a survey of 9,282 Americans using the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual on Mental Disorders, 4th edition, impulse-control problems such as gambling, pyromania and compulsive shopping collectively affect 9% of the population. And a 1979 study by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration
Law Enforcement Assistance Administration

The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration was a U.S. federal agency within the U.S. Dept. of Justice. It administered federal funding to state and local law enforcement agencies, and funded educational programs, research, state planning agencies, and local crime initiatives....
 found that only 14% of fires were started by pyromaniacs and others with mental illness.

Treatment

Behavior modification
Behavior modification

Behavior modification is the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to improve behavior, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of maladaptive behavior through punishment and/or ....
 is the usual treatment for pyromania. Other treatments include seeing the patient's actions as an unconscious process and analyzing it to help the patient get rid of the behavior. Often, this treatment is followed by a more psychodynamic approach that addresses the underlying problems that generated the negative emotions causing the mania. The prognosis for treatment is generally fair to poor. Treatment appears to work in 95% of children that exhibit signs of pyromania, which include family therapy and community intervention. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are also used to treat this condition. Studies have also shown there are therapeutic benefits associated with playing out the mania in a simulated environment.

Juvenile Firesetting Treatment

In terms of prevention, education and treatment in Juvenile Firesetting, the Brandon School and Residential Treatment Center
Brandon School and Residential Treatment Center

Brandon School and Residential Treatment Center is the only institution of its kind to have a Rapid Firesetting Treatment Program, on-site research of Juvenile Firesetting and to work with the Department of Fire Services to host an annual Juvenile Firesetting conference.....
 in Natick, MA offers two leading programs in this field. Their Rapid Firesetting Treatment Program and Intensive Firesetting Treatment Programs, among the only programs of their kind in the country, lead the Juvenile Firesetting field in terms of evaluation, research, education and treatment; it is cutting-edge in working to define best practice standards. Furthermore, in collaboration with the Department of Fire Services, Brandon hosts the annual Northeast Juvenile Firesetting Conference,which brings together the different disciplines impacted by juvenile firesetting. During this time, social service, fire service, public safety, juvenile justice, education, and mental health
Mental health

Mental health is a term used to describe either a level of cognition or emotional Quality of life or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychol...
 professionals attend workshops by national experts to learn how to more effectively intervene in and prevent juvenile firesetting.

See also

  • Pyrophilia
    Pyrophilia

    Pyrophilia is a relatively uncommon paraphilia in which the patient derives gratification from fire and fire-starting activity. It is distinguished from pyromania by the gratification being of a sexual nature....
  • Child pyromaniac
    Child pyromaniac

    A child pyromaniac is one who suffers from an impulse-control disorder that is primarily distinguished by a compulsion to set fires in order to relieve the tension building up inside him or her....


External links

  • Provides useful information and resources for patients and their families, including free questionnaire-based rating scales that patients can use to assess and track the severity of their condition.