Pyromania: Definition, Symptoms, & Treatments

What Is Pyromania?

Pyromania is an impulse control disorder characterized by a pattern of intentional fire starting. People with this condition feel drawn to fire and related materials, experiencing strong urges only relieved by starting fires. Pyromaniacs start fires intentionally without clear reasons or goals.⁴

Pyromania is extremely rare. According to expert Dr. Brian Odlaug from the University of Minnesota, “The true prevalence of pyromania is hard to ascertain for many reasons, including the relative lack of large-scale, systematic studies assessing its prevalence and overall failure to diagnose within healthcare or legal settings. The only national study (in the US) to assess prevalence was conducted in the early 2000s (the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions) and found lifetime fire setting in 1.1% of the 43k+ individuals surveyed.”

Pyromania Vs. Arson

Arson is the intentional, illegal act of starting a fire big enough to destroy property. Most arsonists are not pyromaniacs, as they often have specific motives behind their behavior.³ An individual must not have a reason for fire-setting to be considered a pyromaniac.^1,3,4 For example, starting a fire to cover up another crime, seek revenge, or make a political statement would be an act of arson, not a sign of pyromania.¹

What Are the Symptoms of Pyromania?

The symptoms of pyromania include a pattern of intentional fire-starting driven by urges and impulses, not another goal or objective. People with this disorder find relief, excitement, or gratification from fire and often have an unusual preoccupation with fires.¹

Symptoms of pyromania include:¹

• More than one occurrence of setting a fire intentionally/deliberately
• Tension or arousal (i.e., strong urges or impulses to set a fire) before the act
• Fascination, interest, or attraction to fires or situations/contexts closely related to fires (i.e., lighters, torches, firefighters, etc.)
• Pleasure, gratification, or relief after starting an intentional fire or when seeing fires
• Financial, political, or criminal objectives do not drive fire-setting
• Fire-setting is not limited to experiencing psychosis or being under the influence of a substance
• Fire-setting cannot be fully or better explained by another mood, conduct, or personality disorder
  (i.e., Bipolar disorder, antisocial Personality disorder, etc.)

What Are the Signs of Pyromania?

The outward signs of pyromania usually show up as an intense, hard-to-hide interest in fire and the objects and people connected to it. Suppressed anger, shame, or other negative emotions may partially drive these urges, and starting fires may be a way of expressing or releasing these feelings. Researchers suggest pyromaniacs may have trouble communicating emotions in normal or healthy ways.^4,5

Because of this and other factors, the signs of pyromania differ. Some pyromaniacs may lean toward impulsivity, while others exhibit anger problems or aggression. Regardless, pyromaniacs will show some semblance of extreme interest in fires, whether by reading related material, fire-watching, or even becoming firefighters.

Signs of pyromania may include:^1,2,4,5

• A tendency to be fire “watchers”
• A tendency to set off fire alarms
• An affinity for firefighters
• Liking or collecting fire paraphernalia (i.e., matches, torches, etc.)
• Low self-esteem
• High levels of shame, embarrassment, and secrecy
• A tendency to suppress emotions
• Low frustration tolerance and anger issues
• Poor communication and interpersonal skills
• Inability to regulate emotions
• High levels of impulsivity and poor decision-making skills

What Causes Pyromania?

The causes of pyromania are not fully understood. It receives less clinical attention than many other mental illnesses and is often misdiagnosed or mistaken for another disorder. According to research, most people with this condition have a history of childhood trauma, family dysfunction, abuse, maltreatment, or neglect.^3,4

Starting fires may also be a way to express negative emotions, and pyromaniacs may find catharsis in watching fire burn. However, specific risk factors can increase the likelihood of one developing pyromania, including personality traits, genetics, environmental factors, lived experiences, and personal choices.

Possible causes and risk factors of pyromania include:^2,3,4,5,6

• Being younger, male, and (in US data) more often White
• Lower IQ or education status
• Lower socioeconomic status
• Childhood trauma
• Having an absent father figure
• Impulsivity and poor emotional regulation
• Low self-esteem
• Poor attention span, memory, or cognition
• Angry and aggressive tendencies

What Conditions Co-Occur With Pyromania?

Many people with pyromania also have another mental illness.⁶ The most common comorbid conditions are mood, personality, or other impulse control disorders.^5,6

Some research has also linked pyromania with higher rates of ADHD and poor decision-making, executive functioning, and attention spans.³ Also, people with low IQs or intellectual disabilities have a higher likelihood of having pyromania.⁶

What Are the Impacts of Pyromania?

Pyromania carries serious legal, financial, and physical consequences that can last throughout a person’s life. It can strain or break relationships, lead to arrest and property loss, and cause accidental injuries, burns, or deaths from the fires themselves.⁶

Dr. Odlaug mentions, “Pyromania has significant, negative consequences ranging from legal to financial and health complications. The urges to plan and set fires are often described as overwhelming and consuming and impact the individual’s capacity to be present – physically and emotionally – at home and in the workplace.”

Why Is Pyromania So Rarely Diagnosed?

Pyromania is one of the least frequently diagnosed conditions in the DSM-5-TR, even though fire-setting behavior is not rare. The gap comes from the diagnosis being narrow by design: a person only qualifies when fire-setting is driven by fascination and tension relief, with no financial, criminal, political, or ideological motive, and when it is not better explained by conduct disorder, mania, antisocial personality disorder, psychosis, or intoxication. Most people who set fires fail one of those exclusions, so they are diagnosed with something else.

The numbers show the size of the gap. In the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, about 1.1 percent of US adults reported lifetime fire-setting, yet studies of repeat fire-setters reaching the courts find only roughly 3 to 4 percent meet full pyromania criteria (American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal, 2016). Researchers including Dr. Jon Grant and Dr. Brian Odlaug, who have led much of the modern impulse-control disorder work, note that no large-scale study has ever established the true population prevalence of DSM-defined pyromania, partly because it is under-recognized in both healthcare and legal settings. Clinicians often stop at a more visible diagnosis such as a mood, substance, or personality disorder and never test the fire-specific criteria underneath.

For readers, the takeaway is practical: a fascination with fire is not the same as pyromania, and a proper assessment rules out the far more common explanations first.

How Is Pyromania Diagnosed?

Setting a fire for intentional reasons would disqualify someone from a diagnosis of pyromania. Also, people cannot be diagnosed with pyromania if they start a fire when under the influence of substances or while experiencing psychosis. Most pyromaniacs are diagnosed with another mood, substance, or personality disorder, but these conditions cannot fully explain their attraction to fire or their pattern of firesetting.^1,2,5

A mental health professional can assess an individual against the DSM-5-TR criteria for pyromania, which sits in the manual’s Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders chapter. While a specific test for pyromania does not exist, psychiatric evaluations can provide beneficial insight into the nature of their condition and possible underlying conditions.

How Is Pyromania Treated?

Treatment for pyromania often involves a combination of therapy and medication. Individuals can benefit from the safe space therapy offers, while medication can help them manage symptoms of a comorbid mental health disorder.

Therapy for Pyromania

Therapy is a frontline treatment for pyromania, and certain types of therapy can be more effective than others for specific symptoms. Research on pyromania suggests cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may be particularly beneficial.^2,3 CBT encourages positive thinking and behavioral changes by providing healthy coping skills.

Some researchers also believe teaching relaxation, emotion regulation skills, and impulse control techniques can help people with pyromania.² Other impulsive and compulsive disorders respond well to treatments like exposure and response prevention (ERP) that focus on experiencing urges without acting on them.

Medication for Pyromania

Medication combined with therapy may also be helpful for those with pyromania. Experts have not established a ‘gold star’ medication for pyromania, but some researchers report case-level improvements with medications such as naltrexone, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, sedatives, and anti-seizure medications.^2,3

Getting Help for Pyromania

In addition to therapy and medication, people with pyromania may also benefit from working independently on overcoming their issues. Pyromania is a rare but serious disorder that can lead to severe legal, health, social, and emotional consequences. Those who suspect they have this condition should choose a therapist, counselor, or psychologist who can perform a diagnostic assessment.

Finding a counselor is now easier than ever, thanks to online therapist directories and the increasing number of online therapy options. Consider a provider with experience and knowledge about impulse control issues and pyromania to ensure you receive the best treatment and care.

Below are ways to address pyromaniac behavior on your own:²

• Educate yourself: Learn more about fires, how they start, and their impacts on human life and property.
• Build your understanding: Become more empathetic to people who have been victims of fires or arson by hearing their stories.
• Learn healthy emotional expression: Improve relationships with others by learning to communicate emotions.
• Focus on healing your past: Address old traumas and emotional problems leftover from past experiences. 

Final Thoughts

Pyromania is an uncommon but serious mental illness characterized by an attraction to fires, strong urges to set fires, and a pattern of acting on these urges. People with this condition often have unresolved issues related to past traumas and suppressed emotions and use fire to express these emotions. Treatments like CBT therapy, sometimes combined with medication, may help to reduce the symptoms of this disorder and prevent people from acting on their destructive fire-setting urges