Pedophilia as a mental disorder

Pedophilia is a type of mental disorder related to paraphilias. It is expressed in the sexual preferences of children belonging to different age categories. In a broad sense, pedophiles are people who have a sexual attraction to children.

Most pedophiles do not have sex with children, they only have sexual fantasies on this ground, masturbate, their communication with children is not a sexual one, it can be either verbal contact or communication in the global network, or viewing photos and videos, Where children are involved in sex. Most often, pedophilia is diagnosed for men of homo- or heterosexual orientation. A pedophile woman is an extremely rare phenomenon.

Medical information about pedophilia

The diagnosis of "pedophilia disorder" is made to a person only when special predilections bring him suffering, or he harms people. If a pedophile shows sexual interest only to his children, this indicates a pedophilic disorder limited by incest.

Conditions that are necessary for a person to be diagnosed with pedophilia:

1. The person has unusual sexual fantasies and motivations that cause him distress, or he behaves in accordance with them for 6 months. In this case, it falls under general criteria.
2. The person falls under special criteria, i.e. in the sexual plan prefers children of a tolerant or early-pomerant age.

If a person meets these 2 criteria, he can be considered mentally ill, provided that his sexual urges are realized or bring him suffering.

Species of pedophilia

Depending on the sex of the child's preferred pedophile, it happens:

• Heterosexual;
• Homosexual;
• Bisexual.

In addition, pedophilia happens:

• Exclusive - only children of a tolerable age are attracted;
• Non-Exclusive - sexual interest manifests itself both to children and to adults.

Classification of pedophilia depending on the age of children to which sexual interest manifests:

• A classic pedophile type - sexual interest manifests itself to tolerant children( under 11 years old).
• Hebephilic - a pedophile shows interest in children of early age( 11-14 years old).
• Pedogebephilic is a manifestation of sexual interest in children of any age.

This classification is not accepted by all, because many psychiatrists consider pedophilia only an attraction to children of a tolerable age.

Causes of Pedophilia

• Destroyed map of love. This term was introduced by John Mani. It is believed that the critical age for the formation of sexual activity is 5-8 years. If children of this age group do not play child's sex games, this can cause atypical sexual behavior. In addition, the causes of pedophilia can be physical, emotional or sexual abuse.
• Learning. A large number of people have in childhood a sexual experience with other children, which is part of the normative sexual games. As a result of these games, some people begin to experience sexual pleasure at the sight of immature sexual organs. With masturbation, this attraction only strengthens. However, during the experiments it was proved that conditioned-reflex learning has minimal significance in the formation of sexual predilection for children.
• Pathology of the central nervous system. It is believed that brain trauma can affect the appearance of pedophilia in humans. Blenchard and colleagues conducted research on the basis of which it was found that people who are pedophiles are more likely than ordinary people to have brain injuries under the age of 13 years. In addition, the scientists found that pedophiles tend to have a growth below the average, a low level of intelligence, among them more lefties and ambidextors. All this indicates that during the period of prenatal and postnatal ontogeny, as well as during the period of uterine development, their brain was exposed to harmful influences. Russian scientists believe that the main cause of pedophilia is organic brain damage, which occurred before birth. James Kantor considers pedophilia a violation of the basic instincts. Pedophiles perceive the child as an object of sexual attraction. There are also other hypotheses that suggest that pedophilia occurs when brain mechanisms are affected.
• Disease of dependent behavior. According to the Russian psychiatrist Alexander Bukhanovsky, pedophilia is a special case of a non-chemical illness of dependent behavior. The mechanism of its formation is associated with a pathological system.
• Sexual orientation. It is believed that there are 3 main sexual orientations for gender: heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual. Sexologist Michael Seto believes that pedophilia can be attributed to sexual orientation by age, since pedophilia remains unchanged throughout life. He believes that in this way it is possible to increase the provision of psychological assistance to pedophiles. Sexual orientation pedophilia can be called only in the case when a person does not suffer from his sexual preference and does not harm them to anyone, in other cases it is considered a mental illness - a pedophilic disorder.

Symptoms of pedophilia

For a pedophile, sexual fantasies are characteristic of children. Even if he does not really show sexual activity toward them. Some people who have this disorder can only have sexual desire for children, others for children and adults. Victims of a pedophile may be children of both sexes, the pedophile is sexually diverse, but among men this phenomenon is more common( about 94% of the total number of pedophiles).It can attract as soon as its children, and strangers. Often, pedophiles use force and coercion to attract children to sexual intercourse. If a person suppresses his pedophilic desires, then he may develop depression and appear suicidal thoughts.

Diagnosis of pedophilia

This diagnosis can be made for a person who has reached the age of 16, and his victim is at least 5 years younger. Cases of violence of minors do not always correspond to the definition of pedophilia.

Treatment of pedophilia

Modern experts believe that you can learn to control the manifestation of sexual desire for children by increasing self-control and reducing distress. There are several methods for this:

• Behavioral therapy. It is aimed at reducing sexual arousal from children and increasing from adult women. Widely used since the 70s of last century.
• Orgasmic reorientation. It is aimed at increasing the sexual desire at the sight of adult women. The patient masturbates to his sexual fantasies, and when orgasm approaches, he must switch to the images of adult women.
• Over-saturation with masturbation. In this type there are 2 stages: first, masturbation is carried out on pornographic materials of heterosexual nature, and after orgasm there is a continuation of masturbation to pedophile stimuli, which will cause pain, as a result of which excitement from children will decrease.
• Aversive therapy. Its goal is to reduce excitement from children. It consists in electric shock or toxic stimulation during sexual arousal from children.
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy. With her help, antisocial attitudes and beliefs change.
• Medication. Can only suppress sexual desire. Two classes of drugs are used: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and antiandrogens. Most often this method is used as an additional to cognitive-behavioral therapy.
• Self-help groups. With participation in such groups, distress is reduced. With the help of such groups it is possible to prevent sexual violence against children.