Pyromania is a type of impulse control disorder that is characterised by being unable to resist starting fires. People with pyromania know that setting fires is harmful. But setting fires is the only way they can relieve their built-up tension, anxiety, or arousal. They feel satisfied or find relief after they set fire.
Though pyromanic patients are rare, they do exist.
What Type of Disorder Is Pyromania?
Pyromania is part of a group of disorders called disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders. These disorders cause people to be aggressive towards people or property.
To the unenlightened, a pyromaniac is a maniacal, crazy person with an evil obsession with fire and destruction, seeking to hurt people and things with any chance they get. Pyromania is often equated with arson, when the truth is that that’s simply not true.
Pyromania is an impulse control disorder, a mental illness characterised by a person’s need to set fire. It is not an intention to hurt or destroy but it is just to satisfy an inner obsession to set fire. While an arsonist sets fire to hurt or kill, destroy property, gain a financial reward or to conceal some other criminal activity, a pyromaniac seeks only to set fire.
Symptoms of Pyromania
After the fire-setting behaviour, the pyromaniac feels a sense of release. It can feel like a subtle relief or overwhelming, inexplicable pleasure.
Causes of Pyromania
The causes of Pyromania fall into two distinct categories: Environmental and Individual. Pyromaniac behaviour, or the act of setting fire, is a coping skill for a much deeper issue, and is the skill the person has subconsciously chosen despite how dangerous it is to others and to themselves.
Environmental factors that might cause Pyromania include experiencing sexual, physical or emotional abuse as a child, neglect from parents or guardians as a child or even watching other siblings, friends or adult family members set fires. Individual factors may include lack of attention or social support from adults and guardians, being a victim of bullying, or even experiencing inappropriate sexual urges.
Typically, a Pyromaniac has experienced a significant amount of stress, and fire setting has become a way of relieving that stress. Often, the Pyromaniac is also struggling with deep feelings of depression and suicidal thoughts, and poor interpersonal relationships and lack of skills to deal with those feelings give way to the bad behaviour.
Therapy
Usually cognitive behavioural therapy, family, individual counselling, and group therapies are needed to get the best results.