Pyromania is an impulse control disorder in which the individual cannot resist the urge to deliberately set fires, sometimes going as far as committing arson. Arson, the criminal act of intentionally setting fires, causes destruction worldwide. For instance, the Santiago Canyon fire of 2007 consumed over 28,000 acres of California and cost around 21.6 million dollars in damage. I remember these fires specifically because I have family in California who witnessed this, the fire being extremely close to their own home. The pictures they sent us looked less like a fire and more like a sky bursting with flames that took over everything in its path. However, not all individuals who set fires are pyromaniacs. To fit the criteria of a pyromaniac,
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However, this isn’t always the case, considering the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program found that half of all those arrested for arson in the US were juveniles. For this reason, Juvenile Fire Setting Intervention Programs were spread across the US in an attempt to decrease arson and better understand the intents of these youth. Though there is no well-established treatment for pyromania, psychological therapy such as aversion therapy, reinforcement schedules, social skills training, family therapy, and multimodal interventions have been found to help. Most adults with pyromania tend to go straight through the legal system instead of getting treatment. If they are able to get treatment, they usually are given a combination of medication along with long-term psychotherapy. Treatment given during childhood tends to be more successful than that in adulthood. First, the child will be interviewed, along with their parent. This will help determine if any household stresses or a lack of supervision may be contributing to the fire setting behavior. Lastly, a variety of treatments will be asserted, from problem-solving skills and aggression replacement training to cognitive restructuring and medication. The profile of a common pyromaniac would be a male who begins fire setting in childhood, is antisocial, has a lack of fire-safety
However, this isn’t always the case, considering the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program found that half of all those arrested for arson in the US were juveniles. For this reason, Juvenile Fire Setting Intervention Programs were spread across the US in an attempt to decrease arson and better understand the intents of these youth. Though there is no well-established treatment for pyromania, psychological therapy such as aversion therapy, reinforcement schedules, social skills training, family therapy, and multimodal interventions have been found to help. Most adults with pyromania tend to go straight through the legal system instead of getting treatment. If they are able to get treatment, they usually are given a combination of medication along with long-term psychotherapy. Treatment given during childhood tends to be more successful than that in adulthood. First, the child will be interviewed, along with their parent. This will help determine if any household stresses or a lack of supervision may be contributing to the fire setting behavior. Lastly, a variety of treatments will be asserted, from problem-solving skills and aggression replacement training to cognitive restructuring and medication. The profile of a common pyromaniac would be a male who begins fire setting in childhood, is antisocial, has a lack of fire-safety