ADALYA JOURNAL ISSN NO: 1301-2746

PYROMANIA –CASE STUDY

SARADHADEVI.S

[email protected]

RESEARCH SCHOLAR

SREE BALAJI COLLEGE OF NURSING

CHROMPET, CHENNAI, TAMILNADU

BHARATH INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

ABSTRACT:

Pyromania is defined as a pattern of deliberate setting of fires for pleasure or satisfaction derived from the relief of tension experienced before the fire-setting. The name of the disorder comes from two Greek words that mean "fire" and "loss of reason" or "madness." The clinician's handbook, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as the DSM, classifies pyromania as a disorder of impulse control, meaning that a person diagnosed with pyromania fails to resist the impulsive desire to set fires.

KEYWORDS: Pyromania, Impulse, Firesetting, Aggressive

Case study of Mr. X Mr.X a Patient diagnosed with pyromania is admitted in psychiatric ward for his treatment with presenting complaints such as madness to set fire, impulsivity, frequent firesetting and aggressive behaviour.

Firesetting in children and adolescents Most younger firesetters are diagnosed as having conduct disorders rather than pyromania as defines it significantly, most of the psychiatric literature dealing with this age group speaks of "firesetting" rather than using the term "pyromania" itself. Youngsters in the former group are motivated primarily by curiosity and the desire to experiment with fire; some are teenagers playing "scientist." Most are between five and 10 years of age, and do not understand the dangers of playing with fire.

Pyromania in adults Pyromania in adults resembles the other disorders of impulse control in having a high rate of Comorbidity with other disorders, including substance abuse Disorders. Causes

Individual Individual factors that contribute to firesetting include:  Antisocial behaviors and attitudes. Sensation seeking.  Some youths are attracted to firesetting out of boredom and a lack of other forms of recreation.  Attention seeking.

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 Firesetting becomes a way of provoking reactions from parents and other authorities.  Lack of social skills. Many youths arrested for firesetting are described by others as "loners" and rarely have significant friendships.  Lack of fire-safety skills and ignorance of the dangers associated with firesetting.

Environmental. Environmental factors in adolescent firesetting include:  Poor supervision on the part of parents and other significant adults.  Early learning experiences of watching adults use fire carelessly or inapproriately.  Parental neglect emotional uninvolvement.  Parental psychopathology. Firesetters are significantly more likely to have been physically or sexually abused than children of similar economic or geographic backgrounds.  Peer pressure. Having peers who smoke or play with fire is a risk factor for a child's setting fires him.  Stressful life events. Some children and adolescents resort to firesetting as a way of  coping with crises in their lives and/or limited family support for dealing with crises. Symptoms

 Depressed mood,  Thoughts of suicide,  Repeated conflicts in interpersonal relationships  Poor ability to cope with stress.

Firesetters have been further subdivided into five categories, which are not mutually exclusive: Firesetting as a cry for help. Youngsters in this category set fires as a way of calling attention to an intrapsychic problem such as depression, or an interpersonal problem, including parental separation and divorce or physical and sexual abuse.  Delinquent firesetters. Firesetters in this category are most likely to be between the ages of 11 and 15. Their firesetting is part of a larger pattern of aggression, and may include vandalism and hate crimes. They are, however, more likely to damage property with their firesetting than to injure people.  Severely disturbed firesetters. These youths are often diagnosed as either psychotic (/knowledge/Psychosis.html) or paranoid, and appear to be reinforced by the sensory aspects of fire setting.  Cognitively impaired firesetters. This group includes youngsters whose impulse control is damaged by a neurological or medical condition such as fetal alcohol syndrome.  Sociocultural firesetters. Youngsters in this group are influenced by antisocial adults in their community, and set fires in order to win their approval.

Treatments Children and adolescents  Treatment of children and adolescents involved with repeated firesetting appears to be more effective when it follows a case-management approach rather than a medical model, because many young firesetters come from chaotic households.  Treatment should begin with a structured interview with the parents as well as the child, in order to evaluate stresses on the family, patterns of supervision and discipline, and similar factors.

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The next stage in treatment should be tailored to the individual child and his or her home situation. A variety of treatment  Problem-Solving Skills,  Anger Management,  Communication Skills,  Aggression Replacement Training  Cognitive Restructuring . Adults  Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors  Long-term insight-oriented psychotherapy Prevention  Prevention of pyromania requires a broad-based and flexible approach to treatment of children and adolescents who set fires. In addition to better assessments of young people and their families, fire-safety education is an important preventive strategy that is often overlooked.  In addition to preventive measures directed specifically at firesetting, recent research into selfcontrol as a general character trait offers hope that it can be taught and practiced like many other human skills.  If programs could be developed to improve people's capacity for selfcontrol, they could potentially prevent a wide range of psychiatric disorders.

References  American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th edition, text revised. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association,2000.  Baumeister, Roy F., PhD. "Crossing the Line: How Evil Starts." In Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1999.  Douglas, John, and Mark Olshaker. Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.  Lion, J. R., and A. W. Schienberg. "Disorders of Impulse Control." Treatments of Psychiaric Disorders. 2nd edition, edited by Glen O. Gabbard. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1995.  Slavkin, Michael L. "Enuresis, Firesetting, and Cruelty to Animals: Does the Ego Triad Show Predictive Ability?" Adolescence 36 (Fall 2001): 535–540.

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