Definition and Diagnostic Criteria | Epidemiology | Comorbidity | Pathogenesis | Course | Treatment
The essential feature of pyromania is multiple deliberate
and purposeful (rather than accidental) fire setting (Table 19–7). The
fire-setting behavior is primary, unrelated to another psychiatric
state or to ideology, vengeance, or criminality, and does not result
from impaired judgment (e.g., in dementia or mental retardation).
DSM-IV-TR also excludes "communicative arson," by
which some individuals with mental disorders or personality disorders
use fire to communicate a desire or need.