[On the psychiatric examination of fire-raisers]

By far not every fire-raiser suffers from so-called pyromania, i.e. a pathological urge to raise fire. It is indispensable to differentiate between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, whenever a person is accused of arson. The former aims at external gain, such as the sum insured, while the latter tends towards manipulation of internal states. The leading motive may be frustration, fascination, or in rare cases even sexual arousal. The concept of pyromania, as established by French psychiatrist Esquirol, is not a validated one in all parts; today's diagnostic manuals take "pyromania" rather as a special form of a general disorder of impulse control. The author takes a case report to demonstrate the most important issues in evaluating and prognosticating fire raising behavior.