Fire-setting behavior in the histories of a state hospital population

Jeffrey L. Geller, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Gregory Bertsch, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic

Abstract

Review of the records of 191 nongeriatric state hospital inpatients showed that 50 (26%) of the patients had engaged in some form of fire-setting behavior; half of this group had engaged in a single episode. As a group, persons who had engaged in fire-setting behavior were significantly more likely to have a history of nonlethal self-injurious behavior and had a significantly greater number of admissions to the state hospital. The data suggest that fire setting by any patient cannot be accurately predicted and that fire-setting behavior may be an example of destructive operant behavior.