Last Updated on March 14, 2023 by Mike Robinson

Pyromania is a mental disorder called a disorder of impulse control. It is a mental disorder based on the need to start fires. The repeated starting of fires on purpose defines it. Forest fires are a big problem in protecting the natural environment. Every year, people start fires on purpose, which causes serious damage to the environment, society, and economy, and even puts people’s lives at risk.

The media and public sometimes misrepresent these fires’ causes, perpetrators, and solutions. In this article, I will explain “pyromania,” its causes, symptoms, and most effective treatments.

Pyromania in Culture and Media

We must be aware that some forest fires that occur have human causes rather than natural ones as their source. Humans and fire have been in a relationship since the dawn of time. Human behavior is also frequently impulsive, unplanned, and occasionally accompanied by tension. We learn to control those impulses through our education and interactions with others in society. When the inability to do so arises, we fully enter the field of psychopathology.

The Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE) defines pyromania as the “pathological tendency to provoke fires.” 

It is also important to highlight that the fires arouse much interest on the part of the population, something captured by the media, which transmits different ideas that permeate the people, sometimes generating erroneous knowledge about them.

In the media, on many occasions, the term pyromania or arsonist is used only to designate the author of the fire, using it as a metaphor for someone who intentionally causes the fire but not as the pathology in question.

This causes misinformation and misconceptions about the term, so let us delve into it in detail.

Characteristics of Pyromania

Impulse control disorders include those problems not specified in other sections (such as those related to substances, for example). Other examples of impulse control disorders, in addition to pyromania, are pathological gambling and kleptomania.

These disorders are characterized mainly by the subject’s difficulty resisting an impulse, motivation, or temptation to carry out an act that may harm him or others. Before committing the act, the subject experiences activation or tension that is resolved in the form of liberation or gratification when committing the act. Later there is no guilt or regret for having done it.

Thus, pyromania is a behavior that leads a subject to start fires for pleasure, for the gratification of making them, or to release tension. The fires take place without a specific motivation and respond to an impulse that arises from the subject that it can not control.

The person with pyromania maintains functional cognitive, intellectual, and planning abilities.

Diagnosis of Pyromania

Pyromania is under the categories of destructive disorders, impulse control, and behavior in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5).

 The affected person must intentionally and deliberately start fires on multiple occasions to meet the diagnostic criteria for pyromania. They are interested, curious, or attracted to the fire and its surroundings.

Additionally, it gives them pleasure, gratification, or relief to cause them, see them happen, or participate in the following results. It is crucial to remember that the arsonist does not start the fire to gain financial gain or express sociopolitical ideologies.

Additionally, they do not act this way to conceal any criminal activity, express negative emotions, better their living conditions, or respond to any impairment of judgment or hallucination. In the case of the arsonists, no other conduct disorder, manic episode, or antisocial personality disorder is a better fit to explain why they started the fire.

Pyromania is in the DSM-IV-Axis TR’s I, which includes all clinical disorders except personality disorders and mental retardation. It seemed to be part of the impulse control disorders, not in other sections, such as intermittent explosive disorder, trichotillomania, kleptomania, and pathological gambling.

The World Health Organization (WHOICD-10 ) classifies pyromania under adult behavior disorders, personality disorders, and habits of behavior and impulse control. This category also includes kleptomania, trichotillomania, and gambling.

Common Symptoms

Unlike other people who also intentionally produce fires, the pyromaniac does so out of a simple fascination with fire. Thus, we find symptoms or characteristics such as:

• repeatedly starting fires on purpose for fun or satisfaction
• Intense interest in the fire and its surroundings.
• Fires usually start with some tension or emotional activation.
• Pleasure, happiness, or stress relief from tending the fire.
• It is common to participate in or have fire-related work (for example, to join as volunteers when extinguishing fires).
• Seeing how fire destroys things makes them feel good.

Pyrmania has a link with symptoms of sadness or anger, difficulties in coping with stress, suicidal thoughts, and interpersonal conflicts.

Pyromania as the Cause of Fires

In 1994, a technical and scientific way of researching fires and the Forest Fire Investigation Brigades were developed. These brigades consist of people who work in forestry or the environment, and this is when the collected data starts to have an empirical feel. These categories see pyromania as a way to cause fires on purpose.

However, we know that intentionality is different from what is essential. We must determine if the person had pyromania or is simply an arsonist who performs it for various reasons to obtain a benefit.

When signs of intent and the person who started the fire were unavailable, the person was an arsonist, even though no evaluation occurred to see if he had a mental illness.

Some experts can tell when people set fires because they have pyromania. 

* Arsonist: a subject who voluntarily and consciously spreads fire in a fire to cause destruction.

* Substance-induced disorder: subjects who act under the effect of certain substances that lead to disturbing behaviors.

History of Pyromania

The fact that pyromania is considered a mental disorder has not been immune to controversy. The impulse control disorders date to the 19th century, with Pinel and Esquirol introducing the concept of ” instinctive impulse ” to refer to them.

During the nineteenth century, they rejected the idea that pyromania could be considered a distinctive mental disorder. Authors such as Ray (1844) defined it as a type of insanity that nullified responsibility for the acts committed by the person. One of the authors, Henry Ey, includes pyromania in the group of psychopathic personalities, along with things like stealing or killing people.

Others, like Stekel (1924), say that the person may be looking for a solution in this way because of a psychosexual conflict. Freud argued for heterosexual sexual character problems. For other authors, such as Geller (1987), pyromania could be due to a communication problem, where pyromaniacs would be individuals with poor social skills.

This would imply that pyromania would be a disorder where the individual would show anger by provoking a fire since he feels inferior. 

Vallejo indicates that pyromania could be a disorder where the individual (regardless of his attraction to fire) could demonstrate his courage and power.

Throughout the classifications of mental disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder appeared in the DSM-I before disappearing from the categories and being incorporated again in the DSM-III, where it already refers to a problem of lack of control of impulses, which continues in the later versions of the DSM.

Causes of Pyromania

A family history of arsonists is associated with mental illness, personality disorders (specifically antisocial behavior), and family alcoholism. Family problems exist, such as the absence of parents, maternal depression, difficulties in family relationships, and child abuse. The fact that the subject causes fires may indicate other problems, such as alcoholism (López-Ibor, 2002). Also, many people who start fires but are not diagnosed with pyromania have other mental disorders. For example, there have been reports of people with personality disorders, schizophrenia, or mania.

Understanding Pyromania

The total incidence of pyromania is unknown, given that the distinction of the pathology of pyromania is not accurate. In many cases, the diagnostic criteria have yet to be appropriately applied. Therefore we are talking about between one and four percent. 

Some research, such as that by authors such as Lewus and Yarnell (1951) or Robbins and Robbins (1967), has argued that only 20–40% of people who have set fires are arsonists.

Let us look at the type of person who starts fires because of satisfaction: 

• Male subject,
• Single
• Twenty years old or so 
• Motivations for everything that goes along with the pleasure of watching a fire 
• Intelligence is above average. 
• People with jobs to put out fires. 
• Often set off false alarms. 
• They are very interested in anything that has to do with firefighting tools. 
• They may not care about what effects the fire’s spread might have on them or others. 

Other authors think that the following could be signs of arsonists: 

• A lower-than-average IQ
• Abnormalities of the body 
• Poor social adjustment 
• Trouble at home or with the family 
• Constantly being upset 
• Problems that have to do with sexuality. 
• Alcohol problems

Outlook for Fire Starters

It is unknown what prognosis this pathology has or what the outlook for this disease is.  Some studies show that it starts when people are young. However, newer studies (Roncero, 2009) show that it happens more often in men and usually starts in their teens or at the start of adulthood. 

Most of the time, the peak age is around 17 years old. When the fire starts at other times, like when a person is a teenager or an adult, it tends to be destructive. 

The start of the disorder may have a link to times of personal or life-threatening change or crisis, and the urge to act comes and goes. 

Regarding the prognosis, it will be better if the person can work on verbalizations in therapy. However, it will be worse if the causes are problems like intellectual disability or alcoholism. It is often made more difficult due to the legal repercussions of starting the fire.

Treatment Options

Traditionally, pyromania treatment had a psychoanalytic approach. This made it hard to help the person because he denied that he thought he was responsible.

There have been improvements with aversive therapy, positive reinforcement and punishment, satiation, and structured fantasies, some of the most common types of behavioral therapy. Behavior therapy is part of the treatment for pyromania.

A lot of the time, it gets more complicated because people do not understand the problem and do not ask for help. The person may know that his behavior is dangerous and not good enough, but since he does not feel bad about anything, he is not likely to ask for help to change. 

It is essential to work on controlling their impulses. Role-playing can also help people work out their differences.

The focus should be on psychoeducation, learning how to solve problems, talking to others, dealing with hard feelings like anger, and changing how people think. Relaxation techniques, work on self-esteem and self-image, and work on social skills are also helpful. In some cases, psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy may work together to treat people who cannot control their urges.

Also read: What is ghost limb pain?

Conclusion

In conclusion, we should note that pyromania seems to be a mystery. We find it hard to find information and conduct investigations in this regard, leading us to investigate all those who cause fires to study the behavior of the arsonist.