Diagnostic criteria for 312.33 Pyromania
(cautionary statement)
A. Deliberate and purposeful fire setting on more than one occasion.
B. Tension or affective arousal before the act.
C. Fascination with, interest in, curiosity about, or attraction to fire and its situational contexts (e.g., paraphernalia, uses, consequences).
D. Pleasure, gratification, or relief when setting fires, or when witnessing or participating in their aftermath.
E. The fire setting is not done for monetary gain, as an expression of sociopolitical ideology, to conceal criminal activity, to express anger or vengeance, to improve one's living circumstances, in response to a
delusion or a hallucination, or as a result of impaired judgment (e.g., in
Dementia, Mental Retardation,
Substance
Intoxication).
F. The fire setting is not better accounted for by Conduct
Disorder, a Manic Episode, or Antisocial Personality
Disorder.
Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth Edition. Copyright 1994 American
Psychiatric Association
|