When people use the word pyromania or pyromaniac, people think of it as something they heard of in a film, but it is a real mental health condition.  If someone is fascinated by fire or commits arson people may assume they have pyromania, this is not necessarily the case.  Arson is a crime, and pyromania is a very rare psychiatric condition that is not particularly well researched.  It affects men more than women and generally starts in their late teens or early adulthood.

Pyromania is an impulse control disorder and is characterised by a pathological and uncontrollable desire to start fires, as well as a fascination with all things fire related.  Impulse control or conduct disorders cause people to be aggressive towards people or their property.

They know that setting fires is both dangerous and illegal, but the act of starting a fire is the only way that they can relieve the build up of tension, anxiety or arousal that the condition causes.  Generally they will set a fire about every six weeks and they will feel extreme satisfaction and release after they have done so.

Diagnosis

To be diagnosed with the condition a person must:

·      Be intensely attracted to fire and fire paraphernalia

·      Derive pleasure from either seeing or setting fires

·       Repeatedly and intentionally start fires

·      Feel tense or excited before starting a fire and feel relieved afterwards

·      Their symptoms can’t be explained by a manic episode, other conduct disorder or antisocial personality disorder

They will not be diagnosed with pyromania if their reason for starting a fire was:

·      For some kind of monetary gain

·      To cover up a criminal act

·      Out of anger or vengeance

·      When suffering from hallucinations or delusions

·      For ideological reasons

·      When under the influence of alcohol or drugs

Causes

As there is limited research on the condition, the cause of pyromania is unknown, but certain factors can increase your risk of developing an impulse control or conduct disorder.  These can include:

·      A history of physical or sexual abuse

·      Having parents who suffer from addictions or have a history of breaking the law

·      Having a chemical imbalance in the brain which can affect how we feel and act

·      A history of mental health problems or drug and alcohol misuse

·      Being neglected as a child or having learning difficulties or poor social skills

·      Having a family history of psychiatric illness

Symptoms

People with impulse control disorders have a hard time controlling their behaviours and emotions.  Whilst on occasion we can all feel like this, they will feel this way, frequently and for much longer and in different situations, and it will cause them significant problems.

Professional Help

There is no single form of medication or therapy to treat pyromania, your doctor may prescribe a combination of medications and therapy.

These can include, anti-depressants or anxiety medications including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.  Anti-androgens, atypical antipsychotics or antiepileptic medication.

Therapies such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), aversion therapy, family therapy and relaxation training.

Your doctor will ensure that your treatment is tailor made to treat your symptoms.  Written by Jan, Jeana and Wendy at Barnsley Hypnosis and Counselling (UK). For more free Information click above link.

How do I choose the color of my eyeglass frames? This is a question that I believe many people would like to know before buying a pair of glasses. Nowadays, we wear glasses not only to protect our eyesight or to shade the sun but also as a decorative item to enhance our image, and the choice of eyeglass frames is a more important aspect when buying decorative glasses. Color is almost the primary consideration when we choose clothing, accessories, furniture, and other items; many people for a particular color will be particularly favored these color items more suitable for themselves. In fact, the body wears clothing and accessories color, the main color used in the living environment, to a large extent, also reflects a person’s temperament and taste, so we are very demanding for skin color, and in a very conspicuous glasses color must be carefully selected, see which color glasses frame suitable for you.

How to choose the color of eyeglass frames? Here we explain from three aspects.

The first wear occasion.

Workplace: men are not suitable to wear too brightly colored frames; they generally choose black, gray, or brown glasses that are more mature and stable. Women have no special requirements as long as they are not too fancy.

Vacation: men and women can choose brighter colors, such as white, yellow, blue, green, etc., and travel clothing to match carefully.

Dating: Men are still not suitable to wear too brightly colored frames and generally choose black or gray-based, but the frame shape can choose retro or polygonal to highlight personal charm. Women can choose black and gold with the frame to enhance their temperament and connotation.

Second skin color, glasses frame color selection, the most important consideration is the color of their skin tone.

People with fair complexion can choose any color frame.

People with yellow skin tone choose pink, coffee red, silver, white, and other light and bright color-based frames are more suitable.

People with dark skin or wheat skin can choose gold, silver, etc., to enhance the brightness of the face.

Third frame material, different frame materials often have different color performance properties, so the choice of frame color needs to be considered.

Plate series: not openly but implicitly reveal their new color proposition. Black or amber is the best choice.

Pure titanium, β titanium series: titanium frame of light and rigid, inspired design flowing its famous style. Men: black, gunmetal, and silver are the best choices. Women: red and lavender are the best choices.

Alloy series: Lively and multilateral shape, you can choose various colors, such as red, white, blue, etc. Suitable for young ladies with low prescriptions and multiple pairs of glasses.

However, color is a benevolent and wise thing; there is no completely correct statement. Sometimes, we can pay little attention to other people’s views and ideas. Red looks good, so I wear red glasses frames, I feel green is good, so I wear green glasses frames. When you can leave behind the eyes of others, maybe that’s who you really are; try it!

Today we will see how a small party of lenses can change from a solid or liquid lens raw material to a crystal clear and photometrically accurate optical product.

In the eyewear industry, lenses that are customized according to specific parameters are generally known as Rx lenses and compared to mass-produced, one-off ready-made lenses, Rx custom lenses have more production processes, are more demanding, and are naturally more expensive. In a broader sense, Rx lenses include a series of lenses that require multiple processing through semi-finished substrates, such as progressive multifocal lenses, color-changing lenses, dyed lenses, etc.

In the narrower sense of Rx lenses, as opposed to stock lenses, when the refractive power of the consumer is rare, such as spherical lenses greater than ±12.00D or column lenses greater than -2.50D or -3.00D, the lens manufacturer does not have such unconventional power lenses on hand and needs to open and grind them according to the specific power, i.e., custom lenses. The range of availability of existing lenses can be up to 1200 degrees for some manufacturers, while some need to be custom-made if they exceed 800 degrees.

Both the ready-made lenses and the Rx lenses are processed from the basic semi-finished substrates, which are produced in the process of “transformation into magic.”

The production process of ordinary lenses

Different lens manufacturers, with different equipment and different quality management systems, may differ in the specific aspects and time points of lens production and processing, but their core processes are similar. The process of processing semi-finished substrates generally includes the following links.

configuration of raw materials for lenses → preparation and assembly of molds → casting of raw materials → curing → opening of molds → edge trimming and cleaning → curing again → inspection → hardening → inspection → three times curing → coating → inspection → packaging

Take the common resin lenses on the market today as an example, the raw material is in the form of liquid, and the largest proportion of the raw material is a polymeric monomer, such as the MR™ series produced by Mitsui Chemicals, which is a type of polymeric monomer. The monomer material is carefully blended with various additives such as hardeners and dyes (anti-blue light) and then injected into a lens mold made of glass, cast, molded, cured, opened, and cured and coated several times before becoming a lens.
In this process, the properties of the raw material, the precision of the mold, and the process are crucial.
*If the precision of the mold is inaccurate and defective, it may lead to the production of lenses with inaccurate luminosity.
* Poor control of temperature or duration in each step may lead to poor physical properties and even deformation of the finished lenses.
*Poor physical properties of the raw materials of the lenses may lead to internal stress in the finished lenses or poor adhesion of the film layer, which may lead to bad phenomena such as film peeling and lens discoloration in use.

The production process of Rx lenses
After the previous steps, a substrate with accurate luminosity and shape is completed, and after hardening, coating, and quality control, it is ready to be labeled and sold in the factory. However, there are more processes to be carried out in the Rx lab.
After receiving the personalized fitting data from the consumer, the retail terminal transmits the order data to the Rx lab, which, through built-in software calculations, converts the parameters into data that is stored in the system and selects a suitable semi-finished substrate from the inventory for further processing.

Then comes the most critical part of the workshop processing, which is to process the detailed photometric parameters onto the substrate that already has a certain luminosity. This process includes grinding, polishing, etching, etc. The requirements for precision are very high and are usually achieved through precision automated CNC machines. The technical strength of each manufacturer is reflected in the calculation, modeling, and optimization of the customer’s personalized data, as well as in the precision of the CNC machines. After cutting and grinding, the lenses change from semi-finished substrates to progressive multifocal lenses with various functions, anti-fatigue lenses, special luminosity lenses, etc.

Subsequently, the Rx lenses also go through similar cleaning, hardening, coating, and quality control processes as normal lenses before finally becoming a qualified lens that is delivered to the consumer. This also explains why prescription eyeglass lenses are so expensive; of course, these prices in the opticians include layers of wholesalers’ profits, while the internet sales prices without the intermediaries’ markups are a bit cheaper. The same quality as cheap glasses, now you know how to choose them!

Although the lens is small, its technological content is not less, between the millimeter of light control, smooth and free curvature change, all contain generations of industry wisdom crystallization, mastering the knowledge of lens production, allowing practitioners to value the beauty of technology, but also to better communicate the value of lenses to consumers.