Pedophilia / Paedophilia | |
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Pronunciation |
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Specialty | Psychiatry, clinical psychology, forensic psychology |
Symptoms | Primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children |
Risk factors | Childhood abuse by adults, substance abuse, personality disorders, family history |
Treatment | Cognitive behavioral therapy, chemical castration |
Pedophilia (alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children.[1][2]: vii Although girls typically begin the process of puberty at age 10 or 11, and boys at age 11 or 12,[3] psychiatric diagnostic criteria for pedophilia extend the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13.[4] People with the disorder are often referred to as pedophiles (or paedophiles).
Pedophilia is a paraphilia. In recent versions of formal diagnostic coding systems such as the DSM-5 and ICD-11, "pedophilia" is distinguished from "pedophilic disorder." Pedophilic disorder is defined as a pattern of pedophilic arousal accompanied by either subjective distress or interpersonal difficulty, or having acted on that arousal. The DSM-5 requires that a person must be at least 16 years old, and at least five years older than the prepubescent child or children they are aroused by, for the attraction to be diagnosed as pedophilic disorder. Similarly, the ICD-11 excludes sexual behavior among post-pubertal children who are close in age. The DSM requires the arousal pattern must be present for 6 months or longer, while the ICD lacks this requirement. The ICD criteria also refrain from specifying chronological ages.[5]
In popular usage, at least in the English-speaking world, the word pedophilia is often applied to any sexual interest in children or the act of child sexual abuse, including any sexual interest in minors below the local age of consent or age of adulthood, regardless of their level of physical or mental development.[1][2]: vii [6][7] This use conflates the sexual attraction to prepubescent children with the act of child sexual abuse and fails to distinguish between attraction to prepubescent and pubescent or post-pubescent minors.[8][9] Such use should be avoided, because although some people who commit child sexual abuse are pedophiles,[6][10] child sexual abuse offenders are not pedophiles unless they have a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children,[8][11][12] and many pedophiles do not molest children.[13]
Pedophilia was first formally recognized and named in the late 19th century. A significant amount of research in the area has taken place since the 1980s. Although mostly documented in men, there are also women who exhibit the disorder,[2]: 72–74 [14] and researchers assume available estimates underrepresent the true number of female pedophiles.[15] No cure for pedophilia has been developed, but there are therapies that can reduce the incidence of a person committing child sexual abuse.[6] The exact causes of pedophilia have not been conclusively established.[2]: 101 Some studies of pedophilia in child sex offenders have correlated it with various neurological abnormalities and psychological pathologies.[16]
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Pedophilic disorder is characterized by a sustained, focused, and intense pattern of sexual arousal—as manifested by persistent sexual thoughts, fantasies, urges, or behaviours—involving pre-pubertal children. In addition, in order for Pedophilic Disorder to be diagnosed, the individual must have acted on these thoughts, fantasies or urges or be markedly distressed by them. This diagnosis does not apply to sexual behaviours among pre- or post-pubertal children with peers who are close in age.
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).lanning
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Some cases of child molestation, especially those involving incest, are committed in the absence of any identifiable deviant erotic age preference.