‘All Pyros Are Psychos’—But They Split Into Three Types of Disorders
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AMERICA’S MALIGNANT CRIME
Most Pyromaniacs May be Psychoneurotics But Many are Psychotics or Psychopaths
“All pyros are psychos,” my students tell me. My students are fire fighters and they should know.
“You are probably right,” I answer, “but, what is a psycho? For that matter, what is a pyro?”
“You’re the teacher,” they reply, “so you tell us.”
So I begin.
Any extravagant enthusiasm, violent involvement or persistent preoccupation with fires can be called pyromania. Pyro refers to fire; mania refers to strong excitement. The pyromania, then, is general. It could refer to fire-followers and false-alarmers, as well as to firesetters. It is a label put on a set of behaviors. This label tells us what someone does; it does not tell us why someone behaves in this particular way.
“Pyros behave the way they do because they are psychos,” my students remind me.
Again I ask, “What is a psycho?”
“Psycho,” I reply, “is half a word.”
A fire-setter or a pyromaniac could be a psychotic, a psychopath, or a psychoneurotic. Most are probably the last, psychoneurotic. Many, however, are not. It is important to know how to distinguish among the three types of disorders. Although fire-setting may be the symptom in all three disorders, the dynamics or causes of the behavior are quite different.
Three parts of psyche
To understand how a personality and its behavior can be disordered, we must first have a working model of a personality and its behavior when it is not disordered. One useful model is the psychodynamic model of personality. This model suggests that a personality and its behavior could be described as if it reflected three working parts or components. These three hypothetical components are labeled: id, ego and superego.
The id is that part of the personality which seems to direct behavior and thoughts toward reducing tension and satisfying needs. Some have called this aspect of personality the life drive, animal instinct, or the will to survive. What the psychodynamic psychologists call id is clearly reflected in infants’ behavior—they want what they want when they want it! Throughout our lives, this component is in operation—unconsciously, unrealistically, and unceasingly.
The capacity for being realistic, however, develops as the infant develops. This capacity is called the ego. Without it, the personality would seem withdrawn, unable to relate to others, in its own world. Children who seem unable to show this capacity are called autistic. The ego refers to that part of our personality which directs our conscious behavior and thoughts toward coping with our tensions and needs.
Guilt last to develop
The third capacity, the capacity for feeling guilty, develops last. As young children develop this capacity for guilt, they no longer have to be told what is considered good or bad. The personality is said to have internalized ideas of what is good and what is bad by observing and interacting with their families and others around them. This capacity for guilt is labeled the superego.
Guilt seems to direct thoughts and behavior in two ways. It is activated both by behavior and thoughts, or impulses, which one has come to think of as bad, and it is activated by failure to live up to thoughts and behaviors which one has come to think of as good. One’s idea of what is bad is called one’s conscience. One idea of what is good is called one’s ego ideal. Both parts of the supergo, the conscience and the ego ideal, are incompatible, as you might guess, with the id!
When it is not disordered or malfunctioning due to developmental problems or a temporary overload of tension or guilt, the working model of the personality reflects an ego capable of achieving tension reduction (thus permitting the operation of the id component) in a manner both realistic and socially appropriate (so as to avoid guilt activated by the superego).
Psychotic personality
Now, what kinds of malfunctions can lead to fire-setting behavior? The three disorders mentioned earlier can all have fire-setting as a symptom: the psychotic disorder, the psychopathic disorder, and the psychoneurotic disorder.
In the case of the psychotic personality, the ego is malfunctioning. That is, the capacity to test the reality of ideas or the appropriateness of behaviors seems disturbed. If there is a complete break or split from reality, the psychotic personality is labeled schizophrenic. Thought disorders and hallucinations are associated with schizophrenia. Pyromania might reflect this disorder.
Take the case of a young woman who set fire to her own house, endangering both her life and that of her young child, to make her husband feel sorry for working late hours. Such behavior seems to lack reality-testing and suggests disordered thought processes.
Another symptom associated with psychoses is delusional thinking. A delusion is a belief not based on reality. If the delusions are characterized by feelings of persecution, this type of psychosis is labeled paranoia. A paranoid psychotic personality might set fires to wipe out an imagined enemy, retaliate for imagined insults or express jealousy toward an imagined competitor. Again, as with the schizophrenic personality, a break or split between the ego and reality seems evident, and fire-setting is a pseudo-coping mechanism—an inappropriate way to handle problems.
Psychopathic personality
The second type of malfunction of personality is referred to as psychopathy. The psychopath, also known as sociopath, operates as if the superego is weak or nonexistent. Without a func-‘ tioning conscience, behavior is often antisocial, directed toward immediate gratification, and hedonistic. Without a functioning ego ideal, behavior lacks empathy, responsibility or long-range life plans.
In some cases, psychopathic behavior may be learned behavior. In other cases, it seems to be the result of emotional deprivation during early development. There may even be a very small group of psychopaths who are predisposed toward this character disorder by autonomic nervous system abnormalities or social-learning disabilities which reduce their capacity for guilt and/or empathy.
How might psychopaths be involved in fire-setting? One way in which they might be involved relates directly to their reduced capacity for guilt or empathy. That is, their psychological functioning is well suited to fraud and social dirty work as a career. They might do things for money which social conscience would stop others from doing. A torch, for example, might likely be a psychopath, hired to set fires to defraud insurance companies.
A psychopathic personality might more readily set fire to his own shop for expediency than would a non-psychopath. Similarly, a psychopathic adolescent might burn down his school to escape exams. The hedonistic impulsiveness of a psychopath may lead to the frustrated fireman syndrome—that is, the person will set a fire in order to report the fire and be the hero of the day. Since psychopaths seem unable to profit from experience and are unlikely to experience much guilt, anxiety, or social conscience, this group has a high recidivism rate.
Psychoneurotic personality
The third type of personality disorder which might be associated with pyromania is the psychoneurotic personality disorder. Returning to the working model of a personality, this disorder seems to be the result of a severe conflict between the id with its impulses, and the superego with its rules for avoiding guilt. While impending danger in the external, or real, world evokes feelings of fear, impending danger which comes from within the personality is experienced as anxiety. Anxiety feels generalized, vague, without focus—nothing one can put one’s finger on. The source of danger is truly hard to pinpoint since raw id impulses are said to be unconscious and motivate us indirectly. Were these hedonistic impulses to be consciously experienced, they would probably violate both the conscience and the ego ideal and cause us to feel more guilt.
It is the function of the ego to compromise between that part of the personality labeled the id and that part labeled the superego. It does this by channeling id impulses into behavior which is less likely to arouse the superego and feelings of guilt than would the raw impulses of the id. These manipulations of the fego are called defense mechanisms. Understanding defense mechanisms can help explain many cases of pyromania.
According to our working model of personality, one way in which the ego can defend against an impulse which would evoke guilt if carried out, or anxiety if made conscious, is to displace the impulse. That is, if anger toward a parent would evoke anxiety if experienced or guilt if carried out, the impulse might be displaced toward an object more acceptable to a particular superego—such as the dog! Kicking the dog would in this case be considered displacement behavior. Setting fires can be a sign of displacement as well.
Anxiety impulses
The three impulses which seem to create the most anxiety and/or guilt in this society are aggressive impulses, sexual impulses and impulses toward becoming dependent and “taken care of.” Fire can be involved in ail three types of displacement. The displacement of aggression or anger can lead to fire-setting. Setting fire to a deserted building, for example, is more indirect than showing anger toward a particular person and might, therefore, arouse less anxiety. Endangering the lives of persons unknown might, likewise, create less anxiety in a rigid personality than experiencing the feeling of wanting to kill or wanting to get even with a member of the family, a spouse, a lover or a friend.
Displacement might be a defense against sexual impulses. Heat, and thus fires, provides urethral stimulation and can thus be an indirect source of sexual stimulation—perhaps less guilt-provoking for some than experiencing sexual impulses more directly. Firewatching and fire-setting may also provide distraction from sexual thoughts considered “naughty” or “bad”—a symbolic way of being out of control, stimulated or releasing tension.
Similarly, displacement may be a defense against the direct expression of a need to be taken care of or dependent. Fire fighters are seen as authorities, heroes and helpers, pictured in posters as carrying small children from fire’s harm. Asking fire fighters to take care of things which have gotten out of control by setting fires or false alarms might be in some cases an indirect and displaced expression of dependency needs.
Projection as defense
Projection is another way in which the ego can defend against an unacceptable impulse causing feelings of anxiety or guilt. Projection, like displacement, is called a defense mechanism. In projection, the unacceptable impulse is projected onto someone or something other than the self. If coming home irritable after a hard day at the office and taking out frustrations on the wife would cause too much guilt, for example, the ego may indulge in projection and the wife would be seen as starting up and looking for a fight. If, in fact, a spat did follow, the husband would he in a position to reduce his tension by yelling without the guilt he might have felt had he been the one to start up.
It has probably become obvious by now that we all use defense mechanisms, although they operate unconsciously at the time. It is the degree to which defense mechanisms replace more direct coping mechanisms, interfere with social, emotional and practical functioning, or fail to control anxiety which determines whether or not a personality is called psychoneurotic.
Pyromania often reflects neurotic defenses, as illustrated in the discussion of displacement. Likewise, neurotic projection can also be the cause of pyromania. Projection of angry feelings onto others can make a potential firesetter feel like a victim who has been oppressed and uses fire to get even. Extreme cases represent a break with reality, delusions of persecution, and they would be classified not as a neurosis but as a psychosis called paranoia. Projection of sexual feelings might likewise lead a potential fire-setter to fantasy involvements with others. When disappointed or rejected, firesetting might be the mode of revenge.
Obsessive behavior
Pyromania is often described as an obsessive-compulsive neurosis. An obsession and a compulsion are both further examples of defense mechanisms used by the ego to defend against the anxiety or guilt associated with an id impulse unacceptable to the superego. An obsession is a preoccupation—an unwelcome, constantly recurring thought or idea. It seems to defend against an unacceptable impulse by keeping one’s thoughts so busy that the threatening impulse is blocked out. However, the preoccupation is often indirectly linked to the anxiety-producing impulse and transient, passing, obsessions are quite common—-as when one can’t get a phrase or jingle out of one’s head. Pay attention to the words of the phrase or jingle for a hint of the conflict behind it!
Chronic or continual obsessing suggests chronic anxiety and unresolved conflicts. Such psychoneurotic conflicts can lead to obsessions which center around fires. Thinking continually about fires might block out angry thoughts, sexual impulses, or dependency needs. The destructiveness of a raging fire, for example, might provide a substitute for angry thoughts, being “burned up.”
A fire’s association with sex is obvious from such popular phrases as flame of love, fire of passion, carrying a torch, old flame, playing with fire, being on fire, being hot or in heat. A preoccupation with fire might, in other cases, serve to deny a fear of being alone and helpless and subject to fearful forces represented by fire.
Compulsive behavior
A compulsion is an unwelcome, constantly recurring, action. Like an obsession, it seems to serve as a block for more anxiety-provoking impulses, a defense against behavior which might cause guilt. The compulsive behavior, again, like an obsession, is indirectly linked to the unacceptable impulse and is, therefore, symbolically satisfying.
A compulsion to set fires may, for example, distract a pyromaniac from his or her own psychological pain by endangering the lives of others or giving others anguish. Fire-setting may, in other cases, be compelled by a need to defy police and fire fighters in an unconscious attempt to avoid being more directly defiant of parents. Guilt-provoking sexual impulses may also be handled by compulsive association with fires. Fire-watching can be a symbolic substitute for masturbation or, in some cases, provide increased stimulation, an atmosphere of excitement and danger or even distraction.
Compulsion often involves obsession as well. An obsessive-compulsive concern with fires usually leads to behavior which seems inconsistent with arson. That is, the pyromaniac might stay on the scene, seems interested and involved, might try to be helpful, or answers questions. Until and unless the unacceptable impulse is handled more realistically, a repetition of this defensive behavior is common.
Need for understanding
Conclusions? To understand pyromania, one must understand the many possible personality malfunctions which can lead to fire-setting, fire-following and false alarm behavior. A pyromaniac might be a psychotic, a psycopath or a psychoneurotic. For each, fires serve a different purpose. Each must be understood before the next step is taken toward treatment, prevention or detention.
Fire is a powerful symbol of both violence and destruction, and of warmth and comfort. It is understandably the focus of much thought and action, of delusion, displacement, projection, obsession and compulsion.
As my students would put it, “all pyros, however, are psychos.”
