Biomedical subjects
R J Brix
Publications and source records attributed to R J Brix.
A community-based program for juvenile firesetters.
In 1981 the Dallas Fire Department began a new program for juvenile firesetters. Based on an interview graphing technique that helps the juvenile firesetter to correlate triggering events with feelings leading to aggressive firesetting behavior, the program is staffed by fire department personnel who are trained by psychiatric faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. Comparisons with the city's previous program demonstrate the new program's effectiveness in preventing the recurrence of firesetting behavior as well as its cost-efficiency. Similar programs have been successfully adopted in Houston and Fort Worth.
Intervention with children who set fires.
A technique to interrupt firesetting behavior in children has been described. This technique sequentially correlates events, feelings, and behavior on a line graph. This is done in full view of the patient and his family. The most important function of this procedure is to help the patient become aware of the cause-effect relationship between feelings and behavior. The initial feeling is utilized as a signal that he is at risk to set a fire. This awareness lets him substitute an acceptable behavior. Twenty-nine patients have been treated thus far and only two have set subsequent fires. Follow-up periods varied from six months to eight years with an average duration of two-and-a-half years.