Pyromania

The pyromania (from the Greek πυρός, pyrós —“fire”—, and μανία, mania —“madness”—) according to the DSM-V, is an impulse control disorder related to setting fires and the attraction to fire. The subject who suffers from pyromania is called a pyromaniac or arsonist.

The arsonist should not be confused with the arsonist, which is a person who intentionally decides to start fires with premeditation, for profit or simply to do harm.

Pyromania is part of the urban legend of the psychopathic triad, along with enuresis and animal abuse.

Symptoms

The symptoms usually begin with the attraction to fire when they are children and adolescents, pyromania if it occurs in adults can be chronic or episodic, frequently starting fires as a way to relieve their tension, or they do it only during periods of unusual stress in their lives.

• Pyromania in children: The diagnosis of a child as a pyroman should have a history of fires in a deliberate manner and it should be shown that the child meets the requirements of having a fire attraction and experiences feelings of satisfaction or relief after having caused a fire.
• Adult Pyromania: Adult Pyromania is included in impulse control disorders, such as: substance abuse disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and mood disorders, anxiety disorders. It has been shown that pyromany in adults is associated with different pathologies with other symptoms such as depression, suicide attempt, repeated conflicts in interpersonal relationships, stress.

Causes

Individual factors

• Associative attitudes.
• Search for new experiences and sensations. Attraction by starting a fire either by boredom or lack of other forms of recreation and fun.
• Search for attention to others. Provoke reactions by parents and other authorities.
• Lack of social skills. Lonely people who usually have a very scarce or no circle of friendship.
• Ignorance of the dangers associated with arson or arson.

Environmental factors

• Little supervision by children ' s parents or supervisors.
• Psychopathology of parents (including physical and sexual abuse in addition to contexts where parents abuse drugs or have violent behaviors)
• Group pressure or circle of friendships. Having partners who smoke or play with fire is a risk factor.
• Stressful events in your childhood or adolescence. As a way of dealing with crises in their lives or with limited family support in order to cope with the stressful crises in which they are.

History

Beginning in the 1840s, there have been various arguments for the cause of pyromania. Whether the condition arises from mental illness or moral deficiency has changed depending on the development of psychiatry and mental health care in general.

Statistics

Pyromania is a rare mental disorder, and arsonists account for a very small proportion of admissions to psychiatric hospitals.

In fiction

• Or burn