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Female Arsonists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

T. G. Tennent ,
A. McQuaid ,
T. Loughnane  and
A. J. Hands
T. G. Tennent
Affiliation:
Special Hospitals Research Unit, Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, Berks
A. McQuaid
Affiliation:
Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, Berks
T. Loughnane
Affiliation:
Rampton Hospital, Nr. Retford, Notts
A. J. Hands
Affiliation:
Moss Side Hospital, Maghull, Liverpool
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Extract

Arson has long been a subject of interest to the psychiatrist. In the early nineteenth century, continental psychiatrists in particular maintained that pyromania was a form of insanity, and laws were enacted in the German States and in France to protect such persons from the death penalty. The underlying sexual roots of arson have been stressed (e.g. Stekel, 1924), and although Reiss (1909) suggested that it might represent any form of displaced emotional reaction to tension, and McKerracher and Dacre (1966) that it might represent displaced aggression, the view of a sexual basis for arson is still commonly held.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 119 , Issue 552 , November 1971 , pp. 497 - 502
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1971 

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References

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