Causes and treatment of paraphilia Paralyzes are exciting stimuli, fantasies and behavior of a sexual nature that cause disadaptation, distress, are repeated for a long time. Such intense fantasies refer to inanimate objects, objects, children or adults who do not realize what is happening. This behavior is aimed at the suffering or total annihilation of yourself or your partner.


Sexual fantasies or preferences that seem unusual for other people and health professionals, psychologists and psychotherapists are not paraphilia in its pure form. Pathological will be arousal in the event that they become mandatory for sexual functioning( without them a person can not achieve an erection or orgasm) and will cause violations of professional, social functioning and marked distress. Other aspects of emotional and personal adjustment, intimate relationships with a partner, as well as the absence or disruption of the ability to participate in ordinary emotionally warm intimate relationships with a partner may be violated.

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Causes of paraphilia

Many experts call the main causes of paraphilia an early emotional trauma or a constant sense of anxiety, which can lead to violations in the sphere of normal development of the psychosexual state of a person. If a person at an early age( 12-15 years) received an unpleasant sexual experience, then he may become aggravated by experiences related to intimate relationships in the future, thus developing paraphilias. Usually the details of sexual arousal acquire conditional or symbolic elements. Speaking of a fetish, he is a symbol, an object of excitation, and his choice can be completely random and be associated with desire, sexual curiosity and excitement. With some paraphilia, there may be abnormalities in normal brain functioning, which leads to other types of mental disorders, for example, to pedophilia. Many types of paraphilias are very rare and are observed predominantly in men. For example: transvestite fetishism, sexual masochism and sadism, voyeurism, pedophilia, frotterism, exhibitionism.

Some personality disorders, such as narcissism or antisocial inclinations, may be the root cause of the development of various paraphilias, which in the future are difficult to treat. To date, practical research shows that there are no specific reasons for the emergence of paraphilia, but some types of treatment still give their positive results.

Treatment paraphilia

To effectively and permanently rid people of such fantasies, you need a clear idea of ​​what exactly excites the patient, what he gets pleasure from, etc. As already mentioned above, paraphilia is enough. Therefore, the first step in the treatment is to establish the type of paraphilia. Paraphilias are considered pathology, and therefore, there are considerable difficulties in treatment. The situation is complicated by the fact that a patient suffering from such a problem is unlikely to turn to doctors or psychotherapists for help. Patients usually experience pleasure during paraphilia, and such involuntary treatment can aggravate the condition of the patient. Thus, most people can not give up these activities, having a strong motivation to continue. Therefore, treatment by any method or strategy used may not be able to succeed at all, especially in those clients who will persist in resisting change. Suffice it to long ago began to use socio-cultural and psychological treatment, because the problem is psychological.

The main methods of treatment of such disorders to date are the following:

  1. psychotherapy;
  2. behavioral therapy;
  3. treatment with medicines;
  4. training of social skills.

Psychotherapy

Individual sessions and sessions with a therapist, during which the patient talks in a relaxed atmosphere with the doctor for a certain time( 40 minutes to 2 hours) every week, in general, are a good method of treatment. But this method can be effective only in situations where a person realizes that something really is wrong with him and is ready to accept help. For several sessions, of course, long-term problems will not disappear anywhere, and the patient may not even get better, but as a result of classes and conversations a person will be able to understand for himself the reasons for his violation.

Behavioral therapy

This type of therapy deviates from the traditional concepts of treatment, as the basis is taught as a way to get rid of inadequate behavior, which was the result of training. Behavioral therapy is based on the results of laboratory experiments, which were aimed at developing many different strategies of retraining. Such strategies are aimed at helping people with inadequate patterns of behavior. Behavioral therapy by introducing the patient appropriate changes in the nature of the interaction between him and the environment, helps him to get rid of the source of these disorders. To this kind of treatment include aversivnoe conditioning, when positive reactions are replaced by inadequate and negative. Doctors carefully examine the patient's medical history, so as a result of aversive stimuli affect the subconscious mind, producing treatment. All therapeutic methods of treatment should be systematic and lengthy. Only in this case, a positive outcome of treatment is possible.

To cure a patient of paraphilia, one can resort to medical treatment. It is based on a cardinal decrease in testosterone levels in the body as a hidden underlying cause of paraphilic behavior. To effectively block sexual arousal and the mechanisms of inadequate behavior, doctors usually prescribe anti-androgenic drugs. It is best to combine medicinal treatment of paraphilia and therapeutic methods. The drug treatment method significantly reduces the obsessive and uncontrolled nature of paraphilia, which allows the patient to concentrate on other methods of treatment, while not being influenced by his paraphilic motives.

Training of social skills

People who are paraphilic often have difficulties in forming social relationships with other people, potential partners and, consequently, healthy forms of sexual relations are not accessible to them. Social skills training is an aid program that includes various exercises aimed at training and developing a person's ability to conduct a dialogue, initiate interaction with other people, negotiate visits, respond to various life situations, receive refusals to proposals, etc. Such trainings are conducted in closed rooms with small groups of people suffering from various forms of paraphilia. Trainings should also be part of the overall rehabilitation program for the patient.