Why does pyromania develop and how to deal with it?

From childhood, they explain to everyone that games with fire can end badly. But it’s one thing to light a fire of curiosity or fun for the sake of it and quite another to suffer from pyromania, when the cultivation of fire and arson become a necessity, an obsession, which a person cannot overcome.

Pyromania got its name from the ancient Greek words πῦρ, which means “flame” and μανία - “madness”, “passion”. This is what mental disorder is called, which belongs to the category of behavior disorders, drives. Pyromania is a disease that is manifested by an incredibly strong urge to make arson and watch with enthusiasm how the fire blazes.

The term was first introduced into psychiatric practice in the 19th century, but the phenomenon itself was known long before that. Modern experts consider pyromania not only as a mental illness, but also from a legal point of view, as a direct violation of the law, a crime.

A real pyromaniac never sets fire to anything for profit or profit, in protest or in order to hide the traces of crime. His arson is the only way to get rid of obsession, to realize it. Watching the house of neighbors blaze, a work of art, money or worthless rubbish, the pyromancer experiences the same joy, euphoria, satisfaction, it becomes easier for him.

Psychiatrists know cases when pyromancers experienced something real sexual arousal at the time of burning, followed by discharge. It is called pyrell.

Pyromane never plans in advance to burn him - an irresistible urge to commit arson occurs suddenly, spontaneously, impulsively.Quite often, a pathological craving for a flame is formed in childhood, and the peak of the disease is considered to be age from 16 to 30 years inclusive.

Women suffer from pyromania much less often than men. The overall prevalence of mental illness is about 0.4% of the population. That is how many pyromancers walk among us.

History knew many pyromancers. The most famous can safely be considered Herostratus - an ordinary resident of Ancient Greece, who did not become famous for anything else, except for his strange attitude to arson. The man simply took and burned down the temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

He plainly could not explain his deed. Historians suggest that Herostratus simply wanted to get his “moment of glory." And received. Together with the death sentence.

Pyromania was peculiar to the emperor Nero, which did not limit itself to one building and immediately burned down a whole city - Rome. It burned for a week, and all this time Nero watched the fire. Realizing what happened when almost everything burned down, the emperor did not find anything better than to blame the incident on Christians, after which mass riots began.

Known for his painful attitude towards fire and the famous physicist Robert Wood. From childhood, the boy loved to set fire to and explode, and by the age of 8, Wood was terrifying to others, in connection with which police regularly visited him. Then the young physicist advised the police, helping them establish in an expert order the types of explosives and combustible substances that criminals used to carry out explosions and arson.

The most miserable can be considered a pyromaniac from France. In 1776, the police arrested 16-year-old Jean Baptiste Mouron, who was obsessed with arson without a visible target. For a series of fires, a young man was sentenced to 100 years in prison. It should be noted that Jean served his term "from and to", having been released at the age of 116 years.

Psychiatrists, observing pyromancers, came to the conclusion that in 99% of cases, the cause of the strange craving for fire should be sought in childhood or adolescence. But the disease gains strength later, already in adolescence and adulthood, making a person socially dangerous. It is difficult to pinpoint the reason that causes mental disorder in children, but scientists were able to establish several predisposing factors.

• Character features. Pyromancers are usually individuals with extremely low adaptive abilities. They are almost unarmed under stress, they have lowered self-esteem, often there is an inferiority complex. They tend to look negatively at the world, people and their actions. On the one hand, such people do not want to have anything in common with the world, but on the other, they need attention, and they come out of this dilemma in this way - setting fire to something to attract it to themselves.
• A crude and authoritarian model of education. It is noticed that the vast majority of pyromancers grows in antisocial families. If at home the relationship is such that there is always a place for cruelty, disrespect, open or latent violence, inability to control oneself, then this lifestyle and behavior can become dominant for the child.
• Low intelligence - This characteristic is also often, but not always characteristic of clinical pyromancers. The reasons for the decrease in intelligence may be a low level of mental development, oligophrenia, dementia, and brain injuries in childhood. In this case, the pyromaniac does not understand at all that he is doing something abnormal, asocial, dangerous. He, as they say, "admires the current moment."
• Disorders of emotions and will, psychopathy - the main reason.But with her, the pyromancer usually has a wide profile of illegal activity - he sets fire to it, steals, and can be a fraud, prone to vagrancy.
• Frustration. It is believed that a prolonged lack of ability to meet important needs (for example, safety, food, sleep, sex) can also cause pyromania. In this case, an unhealthy attitude to the flame develops against the background of severe mental stress, and arson is perceived as an episode of rest, distraction, and discharge.

Sometimes the cause of pyromania is a negative childhood experience. For example, a child witnessed a terrible fire that made an indelible impression on him.

Before talking about how to recognize a pyromaniac, one should imagine the pathogenesis of this disease. Craving for fire is not formed immediately, but in stages.

• The thought always comes firstbut the patient is obsessive, the person has an irresistible urge to set fire to something and enjoy the sight, it is impossible to get rid of the thought.
• Thinking stage includes mental admission. That is, a person has already decided for himself that he will do this, and now his mood is improving - he is in anticipation.
• Stage of implementation - the arson itself. At this moment, a person reaches euphoria, pleasure, his production of adrenaline, serotonin increases.
• After the fire, when the adrenaline drops, there comes a period of remorse, awareness, a person is close to depression. And in order to get out of this state, he again needs serotonin and adrenaline. Since with mania to set fire to other ways of obtaining pleasure does not bring such an effect, an obsession (obsession) again arises.

Then everything repeats. Over time, the disease progresses, the time intervals between stages become shorter. Experts are inclined to believe that the focus of pathological activity in pyromancers is located in the frontal area of ​​the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for complex behavior.

Often the first symptoms make themselves felt as a child. The child is passionate about ways to make fire and, despite the prohibitions of adults and punishment, always finds matches, a lighter, which he uses for their intended purpose, setting fire to small household items, trash on the street, old tires, furniture and benches at the entrance. Excitement quickly appears and the desire to again observe the burning.

In adolescence, craving becomes stronger, adolescents can defiantly set fires, challenging society, concepts and rules. Adult pyromania is manifested by the repetition of the cycles described above, while in no episode of arson does a person have his own benefit, goals, calculation. Often, adult pyromancers can plan a fire, but they are completely unaware of its consequences. At the planning stage, the pyromancers are active, they move a lot, they talk a lot, they are excited.

Between episodes of realization, patients very often think about flame, fires, enjoy watching it all on TV, in films, news releases, they like to ponder and discuss ways to produce fire, its sources. They may even dream of a fire.

If a pyromancer takes alcohol, then the frontal lobe of his brain reduces the productivity of the analysis of complex actions, and drunk pyromancers often become uncontrollable, aggressive, they can easily set fire to a house with people inside, a car in a parking lot in which a child or animal is sitting.

Pyromania does not go away by itself. It progresses if treatment is not provided on time.And minor arsons gradually cease to bring pleasure, more and more adrenaline is required, and therefore patients begin to encroach on large buildings with a large number of people. Guilt gradually disappears into oblivion, and after a fire, even if it was connected with human victims, an inveterate pyromaniac no longer feels guilty, sympathy is alien to him.

Pyromania is treated by psychiatrists. For diagnostics, it is important to determine if the arsonist had intent or benefit. If yes, then they talk about crime, if not, then it is possible that we are talking about a mental disorder. The only thing that makes the pyromaniac set on fire is the desire to enjoy the process. Tests are performed, as well as an MRI or CT scan of the brain.

It’s difficult to treat Pyromania they do not recognize the presence of a disease, and therefore may refuse treatment. Quite often, therapy is mandatory. Medicines are used for treatment - in a hospital, a person receives antipsychotics and sedatives. This helps to reduce impulsiveness, while at the same time the intensity of obsessive manic thoughts decreases.

This treatment is supplemented by psychotherapy. But its passive methods, within which beliefs, motivation are changed for a person, have practically no effect. Therefore, it is considered more effective the use of hypnosis sessions with elements of suggestion and NLP.

Forecasts of specialists as a whole are rather favorable. If the relatives and relatives of the patient help the doctors, creating an interesting and eventful life for him, full of positive impressions that will replace unhealthy drives and teach him how to enjoy other methods, a long and stable remission can be achieved.

Unfortunately, there are cases of relapse. But basically they are peculiar to people who, even after treatment, continue to abuse alcohol and drugs.

At the very initial stage of the formation of pathology, it can be corrected by educational methods, but the specialist must tell how, because not always a belt and strict prohibition are the only effective measures of influence.