All About Pedophilia

Pedophilia is a sexual attraction toward prepubertal children. A person who is having pedophilia is called pedophile. There are now a lot of misconceptions about this condition. This article is here to provide you with basic information about pedophilia and people having it.

Pedophilia and child molestation

Pedophilia is defined as the intense and ongoing sexual orientation with children, generally age 13 or younger, both boys and girls. There is a higher number of men having pedophilia than women.

People usually confuse pedophilia with child molestation. While child molesters are defined by acts, pedophiles are characterized by their desire. It is scientifically estimated that about half of child molesters are not sexually attracted to their victims. On the other hand, a pedophile may have no sexual act to children. In fact, a lot of pedophiles do not molest children and consider having any types sexual contacts with children are against morality.

Pedophilia is not a choice

Recent studies show that pedophilia may have neurological origins. They suggested that this condition could be the consequence of a brain failure in identifying the environment stimuli to arouse a sexual response. A finding supporting for this is that men who live with pedophilia have three times higher chance to be left-handed or ambidextrous. Other evidences show that disruption of the development of neuro in the utero or in early childhood can contribute to the increased risk of pedophilia. When taking the tests on visual-spatial ability and verbal memory, averagely, men with pedophilia have lower scores than normal men.

What is pedophilic disorder?

Pedophilic disorder happens when pedophilia turns to a mental disorder causing a pedophile specific distress or interpersonal trouble. To carry a pedophilic disorder diagnosis, there are some conditions including:

• The person has at least 6 months experiencing the frequent, strong sexual fantasies, and urges involving sexual activity with a specific prepubescent child.
• The person has acted on his urges or suffered from significant anxiety or had troubles with their social, occupational functions, or other aspects of their life.
• The person is at least 16 years old and 5 years older than the child.

Living with the pedophilic disorder may lead to many other psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, alienation. Pedophiles who are diagnosed with this disorder usually experience the feeling of being  frustrated, isolated, and difficulty in achieving their personal goals

Treatment for pedophilia

Most experts think that it is impossible to cure pedophilia; however, therapy may help pedophile to put their feeling under control and not act on them. A combination of dynamic psychotherapy, behavioral techniques, chemical approaches, and surgical interventions can work if the pedophile is willing to admit and accept their problems and participate in the treatment.

For those who are at a high risk of committing sexual offenses, medications can be used to reduce the intensity of their sex life.

You may also interest in:

• Bestiality Sexual Disorder
• What Is Pedophilia?
• Common signs of child abuse