Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T11:53:36.543Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 10 - Fire-Setting and Arson

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2024

By
Elliott Carthy ,
Bradley Hillier  and
Faisil Sethi
Edited by
Roland Dix ,
Stephen Dye  and
Stephen M. Pereira
Roland Dix
Affiliation:
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester
Stephen Dye
Affiliation:
Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, Ipswich
Stephen M. Pereira
Affiliation:
Keats House, London
Get access

Summary

This chapter defines the terminological differences between the terms ‘fire-setting’, ‘arson’ and ‘pyromania’, including their place in current diagnostic manuals. An epidemiological perspective on fire-setting in those with mental disorder as well as classification systems and theories of fire-setting with prevailing conceptual models of fire-setting and mental disorder is described. Current approaches in the risk assessment of fire-setting and psychological and pharmacological interventions in fire-setting are discussed. Finally, a care pathway to guide clinical and risk assessment of the patient with fire-setting as a feature of their behaviour or history is suggested.

Keywords

fire-settingarsonpyromaniaforensicinpatientmental illnesssecuretwo-axis theory
Type
Chapter
Information
Psychiatric Intensive Care , pp. 124 - 138
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almond, L, Duggan, L, Shine, J and Canter, D (2005) Test of the Arson Action System Model in an Incarcerated Population. Psychology, Crime & Law 11 (1) 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Anwar, S, Långström, N, Grann, M and Fazel, S (2011) Is Arson the Crime Most Strongly Associated with Psychosis? – A National Case-Control Study of Arson Risk in Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses. Schizophrenia Bulletin 37 (3) 580–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Averill, S (2011) Legal Perspectives on Arson. In Dickens, G, Sugarman, P and Gannon, T (eds.), Firesetting and Mental Health. London: RCPsych Publications.Google Scholar
Blanco, C. Alegría, AA, Petry, NM, Grant, JE, Simpson, HB, Liu, SM, et al. (2010) Prevalence and Correlates of Fire-Setting in the United States: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 71 (9) 1218–25.Google ScholarPubMed
Burton, PR, Mcniel, DE and Binder, RL (2012) Firesetting, Arson, Pyromania, and the Forensic Mental Health Expert. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 40 (3) 355–65.Google ScholarPubMed
Canter, D and Fritzon, K (1998) Differentiating Arsonists: A Model of Firesetting Actions and Characteristics. Legal and Criminological Psychology 3 (1) 73–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ceylan, MF, Durukan, I, Türkbay, T, Akca, OF and Kara, K (2011) Pyromania Associated with Escitalopram in a Child. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology 21 (4) 381–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, YH, Arria, AM and Anthony, JC (2003) Firesetting in Adolescence and Being Aggressive, Shy, and Rejected by Peers: New Epidemiologic Evidence from a National Sample Survey. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 3 (1) 44–52.Google Scholar
Coid, J, Kahatan, N, Gault, S, Cook, A and Jarman, B (2001) Medium Secure Forensic Psychiatry Services: Comparison of Seven English Health Regions. British Journal of Psychiatry 178 (1) 55–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickens, G and Sugarman, P (2011) Adult Firesetters: Prevalence, Characteristics and Psychopathology. In Dickens, G, Sugarman, P and Gannon, T (eds.), Firesetting and Mental Health. London: RCPsych Publications.Google Scholar
Doley, RM and Watt, BD (2011) Assessment of Firesetters. In Dickens, G, Sugarman, P and Gannon, T (eds.), Firesetting and Mental Health. London: RCPsych Publications.Google Scholar
Enayati, J, Grann, M, Lubbe, S and Fazel, S (2008) Psychiatric Morbidity in Arsonists Referred for Forensic Psychiatric Assessment in Sweden. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 19 (2) 139–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazel, S and Grann, M (2002) Older Criminals: A Descriptive Study of Psychiatrically Examined Offenders in Sweden. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 17 (10) 907–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fineman, KR (1995) A Model for the Qualitative Analysis of Child and Adult Fire Deviant Behavior. American Journal of Forensic Psychology 13 (1) 31–60.Google Scholar
Fritzon, K (2011) Theories on Arson: The Action Systems Model. In Dickens, G, Sugarman, P and Gannon, T (eds.), Firesetting and Mental Health. London: RCPsych Publications.Google Scholar
Gannon, TA, Alleyne, E, Butler, H, Danby, H, Kapoor, A, Lovell, T, et al. (2015) Specialist Group Therapy for Psychological Factors Associated with Firesetting: Evidence of a Treatment Effect from a Non-Randomized Trial with Male Prisoners. Behavior Research and Therapy 73: 42–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gannon, TA, Ó Ciardha, C, Doley, RM and Alleyne, E (2012) The Multi-Trajectory Theory of Adult Firesetting (M-TTAF). Aggression and Violent Behavior 17 (2) 107–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gannon, TA and Pina, A (2010) Firesetting: Psychopathology, Theory and Treatment. Aggression and Violent Behavior 15 (3) 224–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geller, JL (1992) Arson in Review: From Profit to Pathology. Psychiatric Clinics of North America 15 (3) 623–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Geller, JL, Erlen, J and Pinkus, RL (1986) A Historical Appraisal of America’s Experience with “Pyromania” – A Diagnosis in Search of a Disorder. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 9 (2) 201–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grice, A (2011) Fire Risk and Fire Safety in Psychiatric Care. In Dickens, G, Sugarman, P and Gannon, T (eds.), Firesetting and Mental Health. London: RCPsych Publications.Google Scholar
Guy, LS, Wilson, CM, Douglas, KS, Hart, SD, Webster, CD and Belfrage, H (2013) HCR-20 Version 3: Item-by-Item Summary of Violence Literature. HCR-20 Violence Risk Assessment White Paper Series, No. 3. Burnaby, Canada: Mental Health, Law, and Policy Institute, Simon Fraser University.Google Scholar
Harris, GT and Rice, ME (1996) A Typology of Mentally Disordered Firesetters. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 11 (3) 351–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillier, B, Cherukuru, S and Sethi, F (2015) Care Pathway Process Proposal and Rationale for the Assessment and Management of Firesetting in the Inpatient Setting. Journal of Psychiatric Intensive Care 11 (2) 119–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollin, C (201) Arson: Treatment and Interventions. In Dickens, G, Sugarman, P and Gannon, T (eds.), Firesetting and Mental Health. London: RCPsych Publications.Google Scholar
Hollin, CR, Davies, S, Duggan, C, Huband, N, McCarthy, L and Clarke, M (2013) Patients with a History of Arson Admitted to Medium Security: Characteristics on Admission and Follow-up Postdischarge. Medicine, Science and the Law 53 (3) 154–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jackson, HF, Glass, C and Hope, S (1987) A Functional Analysis of Recidivistic Arson. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 26 (3) 175–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, RS and Netherton, E (2016) Fire Setting and the Impulse-Control Disorder of Pyromania. American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal 11 (7) 14–16.Google Scholar
Kelly, L, Lovett, J and Regan, L (2005) A Gap or a Chasm? Attrition in Reported Rape Cases. Home Office Research Study 293. London: Great Britain Home Office Research Development and Statistics.Google ScholarPubMed
Labree, W, Nijman, H, Van Marle, H and Rassin, E (2010) Backgrounds and Characteristics of Arsonists. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 33 (3) 149–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewish, NOC and Yarnell, H (1951) Pathological Firesetting (Pyromania). Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph Series. New York: Nervous and Mental Disease Monographs, no. 82.Google Scholar
Linaker, OM (2000) Dangerous Female Psychiatric Patients: Prevalences and Characteristics. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 101 (1) 67–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindberg, N, Holi, MM, Tani, P and Virkkunen, M (2005) Looking for Pyromania: Characteristics of a Consecutive Sample of Finnish Male Criminals with Histories of Recidivist Fire-Setting between 1973 and 1993. BMC Psychiatry 5: 47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loranger, AW, Sartorius, N, Andreoli, A, Berger, P, Buchheim, P, Channabasavanna, S., et al. 1994. The International Personality Disorder Examination. The World Health Organization/Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration International Pilot Study of Personality Disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 51 (3) 215–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, S and Fritzon, K (2007) Functional Consistency across Two Behavioural Modalities: Fire-Setting and Self-Harm in Female Special Hospital Patients. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 17 (1) 31–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muckley, A (1997) Firesetting: Addressing Offending behaviour. A Resource and Training Manual. UK Redcar and Cleveland Psychological Service.Google Scholar
Murphy, GH and Clare, ICH (1996) Analysis of Motivation in People with Mild Learning Disabilities (Mental Handicap) Who Set Fires. Psychology, Crime & Law 2 (3) 153–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ó Ciardha, C, Barnoux, MFL, Alleyne, EKA, Tyler, N, Mozova, K. and Gannon, TA (2015a) Multiple Factors in the Assessment of Firesetters’ Fire Interest and Attitudes. Legal and Criminological Psychology 20 (1) 37–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ó Ciardha, C, Tyler, N and Gannon, TA (2015b) A Practical Guide to Assessing Adult Firesetters’ Fire-Specific Treatment Needs Using the Four Factor Fire Scales. Psychiatry 78 (4) 293–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Office for National Statistics (2023) Fire Statistics Data Tables. UK Government. www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables.Google Scholar
Pallanti, S, Quercioli, L, Sood, E and Hollander, E (2002) Lithium and Valproate Treatment of Pathological Gambling: A Randomized Single-Blind Study. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 63 (7) 559–64.Google ScholarPubMed
Parks, RW, Green, RD, Girgis, S, Hunter, MD, Woodruff, PW and Spence, SA (2005) Response of Pyromania to Biological Treatment in a Homeless Person. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment 1 (3) 277–80.Google Scholar
Prins, H, Tennent, G and Trick, K (1985) Motives for Arson (Fire Raising). Medicine, Science, and the Law 25 (4) 275–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Räsänen, P, Hakko, H and Väisänen, E (1995a) Arson Trend Increasing – A Real Challenge to Psychiatry. Journal of Forensic Sciences 40 (6) 976–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Räsänen, P, Hakko, H and Väisänen, E (1995b) The Mental State of Arsonists as Determined by Forensic Psychiatric Examinations. The Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 23 (4) 547–53.Google ScholarPubMed
Repo, E, Virkkunen, M, Rawlings, R and Linnoila, M (1997) Criminal and Psychiatric Histories of Finnish Arsonists. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 95 (4) 318–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rice, ME and Harris, GT (1991) Firesetters Admitted to a Maximum Security Psychiatric Institution: Offenders and Offenses. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 6 (4) 461–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, EC and Huff, TG (1999) Psychiatric Aspects of Arsonists. Journal of Forensic Sciences 44 (4) 733–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rix, KJ (1994) A Psychiatric Study of Adult Arsonists. Medicine, Science, and the Law 34 (1) 21–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robbins, E and Robbins, L (1967) Arson with Special Reference to Pyromania. New York State Journal of Medicine 67 (6) 795–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Sambrooks, K, Olver, ME, Pag, TE and Gannon, TA (2021) Firesetting Reoffending: A Meta-Analysis. Criminal Justice and Behavior 48 (11) 1634–1651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soltys, SM (1992) Pyromania and Firesetting Behaviors. Psychiatric Annals 22 (2) 79–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, LA (1993) Profile of Female Firesetters: Implications for Treatment. The British Journal of Psychiatry 163: 248–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomson, A, Tiihonen, J, Miettunen, J, Sailas, E, Virkkunen, M and Lindberg, N (2015) Psychopathic Traits among a Consecutive Sample of Finnish Pretrial Fire-Setting Offenders. BMC Psychiatry 15: 44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyler, N and Gannon, TA (2012) Explanations of Firesetting in Mentally Disordered Offenders: A Review of the Literature. Psychiatry 75 (2) 150–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyler, N and Gannon, TA (2017) Pathways to Firesetting for Mentally Disordered Offenders: A Preliminary Examination. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 61 (8) 938–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyler, N and Gannon, TA (2021) The Classification of Deliberate Firesetting. Aggression and Violent Behavior 59: 101458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, N, Gannon, TA, Lockerbie, L, King, T, Dickens, GL and De Burca, C (2013) A Firesetting Offense Chain for Mentally Disordered Offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior 41 (4) 512–30.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (WHO) (2022) International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision. World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Yesavage, JA, Benezech, M, Ceccaldi, P, Bourgeois, M and Addad, M (1983) Arson in Mentally Ill and Criminal Populations. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 44 (4) 128–30.Google ScholarPubMed
Young, S and Thome, J (2011) ADHD and Offenders. World Journal of Biological Psychiatry 12 (Suppl 1) 124–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×