“Fire drinks gasoline and excretes cinders, it fights for territory, it loves and hates…..Fire doesn’t settle; fire doesn’t tolerate; fire doesn’t just get by.” – Dan Wells

While most young people have a fascination with fire the curiosity usually fades with age and with the understanding of the dangers of fire.  However, a small percentage of individuals maintain a lifelong fascination with fire and an unstoppable urge to set them. These individuals are pyromaniacs.

Pyromania is defined as a pattern of deliberate setting of fires for pleasure, relief, and gratification upon seeing the consequences of a fire or upon seeing a fire burn, as a result of the tension built up in the individual before actually setting the fire.  They set fires for the sake of these feelings alone.  It is classified as an impulse control disorder (along with pathological gambling and kleptomania) because a person suffering from it is incapable of resisting the impulse to set fires.  Though pyromaniacs do commit deliberate arson, they do not do it with the intention of hurting people, revenge, or out of feelings of frustration or anger.   This is in stark contrast to the organized planning of an arsonist.

There are specific indicators that separate pyromaniacs from those who start fires for criminal purposes or due to emotional or psychiatric reasons not specifically related to fire:

• Tension or emotional build up prior to setting the fire
• Having set fires deliberately and purposefully on multiple occasions
• Euphoria, pleasure, relief or gratification when setting fires, or upon witnessing the effects of the fire afterwards
• Fascination with, attraction to, or curiosity about fire and situations surrounding fire (such as: the equipment associated with fire; the uses of fire; or the aftermath of fire-setting)
• The fire setting is not done for financial gain, as an expression of social or political philosophy, to express anger or revenge, to conceal criminal activity, or as a result of another underlying criminal or mental disorder.  When a person is a pyromaniac, they never set fire to things for any reason but a clear sense of pleasure

We do not know the exact cause of most impulse control disorders, but they do not go away on their own.  These individuals need medical and psychiatric care.  Effective treatment of pyromania varies with both the age of the patient as well as the intensity of the condition.  In adolescents and young adults treatment usually consists of a combination of medication, usually one of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been shown to lessen the emotional build-up in pyromaniacs as well as diminishing the related fire-setting urges.  Ongoing CBT sessions utilize skill building approaches aimed at problem solving and preventing relapse.  A variety of other treatment approaches, including problem-solving skills, anger management, communication skills, aggression replacement training, and cognitive restructuring may be helpful in addressing all of the emotional and cognitive issues involved. The odds of recovery in adolescents and young adults who suffer from pyromania is generally quite positive.

Pyromania is generally harder to treat in adults often due to lack of cooperation by the patient. In adults the recovery rate is generally poor and if an adult does recover it usually takes a longer period of time.  Treatment usually consists of medication to diminish the stress and emotional outbursts in addition to long-term insight-oriented psychotherapy.

There are a number of highly qualified and capable individual counseling therapists within the Tri-Counties with extensive experience in treating impulse control disorders, including pyromania.  They can be found by entering “Impulse Control Disorder Therapists in (insert your local area)” on your favorite search engine.