Treatment of Fire‐Setting Behaviour

Taylor, John L.; Thorne, Ian; Slavkin, Michael

doi:10.1002/9780470713440.ch12

Cited by 37 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…As other professionals have recently noted (Palmer et al, 2005), the adult interventions that have been documented for firesetters are typically cognitive behavioral and implemented in psychiatric settings (e.g., Smith & Short, 1995;Swaffer et al, 2001;Taylor et al, 2002;Taylor, Thorne, & Slavkin, 2004), although there are some reports of behavioral aversion therapy (Royer, Flynn, & Osadca, 1971) and social skills treatment (Rice & Chaplin, 1979). Furthermore, it is somewhat unsurprising to note that many reported treatment efforts are susceptible to much variation (see Haines et al, 2006or Palmer et al, 2007.…”

Section: Firesetting Psychopathology 29mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is unclear, however, whether these improvements were clinically significant, and the authors themselves note their study lacks adequate control group comparisons. In a later paper, Taylor et al (2004) describe detailed case studies of four intellectually disabled male patients who completed a similar program. The authors report somewhat positive outcomes for each of the studied patients, who attended the majority of the program.…”

Section: Firesetting Psychopathology 29mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Firesetting: Psychopathology, theory and treatment

Gannon

Pina

2010

Aggression and Violent Behavior

103

136

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In this paper, we comprehensively review the characteristics of adult firesetters, and the etiological features of firesetting. In particular, we pay attention to contemporary research available regarding the core traits and psychopathological features required to understand firesetters, and the classificatory systems and etiological theories developed to understand firesetting. This evaluation of contemporary research suggests that clinical knowledge and practice relating to firesetting is extremely underdeveloped relative to other areas of forensicclinical psychology. We conclude that there are very few etiological theories available to guide consulting clinicians in this area, and little information available specifying the exact criminogenic needs associated with firesetters, or how these needs compare to other offender groups. The significant lack of contemporary treatment programs designed to target firesetting behavior is also noted. We conclude by highlighting core areas for future research and treatment progression. Latest available statistics show that around 323,900 intentionally set fires were recorded by US fire departments in 2005 and these fires caused 490 deaths, 9,100 injuries, and created over 1 billion dollars of costs relating to property destruction (Hall, 2007). Given the enormous societal costs associated with intentional firesetting, it is curious that current psychological understanding of this act is relatively underdeveloped, especially when one compares the extant firesetting literature to that relating to violence or sexual offending. The only existing reviews on firesetting behavior have tended either to focus solely upon child and juvenile firesetters (Kolko, 1985), or have approached firesetting from a psychiatric perspective (Blumberg, 1981;Geller, 1987;Geller, 2008;Ritchie & Huff, 1999). Thus, there is a strong need for a psychologically-informed review on firesetting for consulting clinicians and forensic psychologists who work with adult firesetters.Our paper does not intend to provide an exhaustive review of firesetting since to do so would entail numerous historical pieces. However, we do aim to provide a comprehensive and contemporary overview of the diagnostic criteria, etiological features, theory, and treatment relevant to adult firesetting. Our main aim is to provide clinical practitioners with a comprehensive psychological understanding of adult firesetters, paying particular attention to clinical and etiological features, firesetting behavioral specificity, issues of diagnostic criteria relevant to pathological firesetting, and current treatment issues. Based upon this review, we then make some suggestions for future empirical research and evidence-based practice relevant to firesetting. In order to increase the clarity and focus of this review, and unless otherwise stated, we will focus our discussions on firesetting committed by individuals over the age of 18. We will, however, refer to research with juveniles and children where we feel it is appropriate to ...

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Section: Firesetting Psychopathology 29mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Firesetting Psychopathology 29mentioning

confidence: 99%

Firesetting: Psychopathology, theory and treatment

Gannon

Pina

2010

Aggression and Violent Behavior

103

136

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The greatest area of improvement for all four was, however, in terms of their scores on the NAS anger disposition measure. Taylor, Robertson, Thorne, Belshaw, and Watson (2005) presented a further series of case studies on six women with ID with histories of fire-setting who received a group intervention using similar procedures to those described by Taylor et al (2004c). Four out of the six women had co-existing psychiatric conditions in addition to mildborderline DD.…”

Section: Fire-setting Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 92%

A selective review of research on offenders with developmental disabilities: assessment and treatment

Lindsay

Taylor

2005

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

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The process of deinstitutionalization has changed the nature of research on offenders with developmental disabilities, transferring the focus of enquiry from institutions to the community. As a result, there have been significant increases in the extent of research on assessment, treatment and service systems. This selective review focuses on anger and aggression, fire-setting and inappropriate sexual behaviour to illustrate the way in which developments are beginning to support clinical work in the area. We now have a number of assessments to delineate psychological variables and there are also developments in the assessment of risk for future violence. Treatment programmes are becoming increasingly sophisticated, relying increasingly on developments in cognitive techniques. Controlled trials indicate that treatment for anger and aggression may be effective in terms of both proximal and socially validated outcomes. There is a lack of controlled outcome research in other areas. More recent research comparing individuals in different levels of security may have impacts on services.

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“…As stated earlier, increasing client participants' knowledge was seen as a prerequisite for their capacity to improve their mental health. Two Goal Attainment Scales (GAS) were developed based upon the method described by Taylor et al (2004). One GAS was designed for client participants and the other for carer participants.…”

Section: Knowledge Variables -Gasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The NAS is a selfreport instrument containing cognitive, arousal and behavioural subscales that comprise a total score for anger disposition (Novaco 1994). There are as yet no clinical ranges for the NAS other than a clinical threshold which is reported to be above 90 by Taylor et al (2004). (Briere & Runtz 1993) and is consistently reported by non-learning disabled survivors of sexual abuse (Threadcraft & Wilcoxon 1993).…”

Section: Clinical Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating a Survivors Group Pilot for Women with Significant Intellectual Disabilities who have been Sexually Abused

Peckham

Howlett²,

Corbett

2007

Research Intellect Disabil

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Background Sexual abuse has been associated with trauma, low self-esteem, anger, depression and challenging behaviours. This pilot study builds on a small published literature by evaluating a survivors group (SG) for women with an intellectual disability and an educational support group (ESG) for their carers. Method The SG was delivered weekly over 5 months for 20 sessions and the ESG ran concurrently for their seven carers in a separate room within the same communitybased building. Participants were helped to build trust and rapport, provided with education about sexual abuse designed for their level of ability, and helped to reprocess the trauma of their sexual abuse. Results Both the SG and the ESG were evaluated using a repeated-measures design (double baseline, mid-treatment, post-treatment and follow up), to see whether there was any improvement in relevant clinical dependent variables associated with the consequences of sexual abuse (i.e. trauma, self-esteem, anger, depression and challenging behaviour). Improvements occurred in sexual knowledge, trauma and depression. Neither self-esteem nor anger improved for most of the SG and challenging behaviour worsened at first before improving. Conclusions The SG seemed to be successful in improving sexual knowledge and in reducing trauma and depression, although challenging behaviours worsened at first before improving. There is a need for more sexual abuse/sexual education groups for men and women with intellectual disabilities.

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Treatment of Fire‐Setting Behaviour

Cited by 37 publications

References 23 publications

Firesetting: Psychopathology, theory and treatment

Firesetting: Psychopathology, theory and treatment

A selective review of research on offenders with developmental disabilities: assessment and treatment

Evaluating a Survivors Group Pilot for Women with Significant Intellectual Disabilities who have been Sexually Abused

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