Paraphilias
What is it?
Paraphilias are recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges or behaviors that involve children, nonhuman objects, or other non-consenting adults, or the suffering of oneself or one’s partner.
-Pedophilia is a sexual orientation toward children, especially those who are younger than the age of 13. The pedophilic disorder is far more common among men than women.
-Another paraphilia is exhibitionistic disorder, which is a disorder in which the person exposes his genitals to another person, usually people they have never met. Most exhibitionists are men and typically begin in late adolescence or early adulthood. Risk factors include antisocial personality disorder, alcohol abuse, emotional abuse during childhood, and interest in paedophilia.
Signs & symptoms
Symptoms of exhibitionistic disorder include recurrent behavior resulting in extreme sexual arousal when showing genitals to strangers.
Diagnosis
-Pedophilia is diagnosed by convesations with a mental health proffesionalist, who finds that the attraction towards children is causing the person guilt, anxiety, alienation, or difficulty in pursuiting other personal goals, or else if their urges cause them to approach children in real life.
-Exhibistionistic disorder symptoms last at least for 6 months of the behavior to be diagnosed. The symptoms must cause the person distress and disrupt his everyday life. Also, the disorder is not better explained by other disorders.
Treatment
-Treatment for pedophilia does not focuses on changing ones feelings, but on managing them and learning not to act on them. Someitmes medication are used to reduce sex drive.
-Treatment of exhibistionistic disorder involves psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective, as well as group therapy.
☝️ This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult with your physician before making any medical decision.
Learn more about our editorial process for content accuracy.
Source of Information - We analyze big data of more than 23 million patients de-identified medical records from the following sources:
Find people who are
experiencing a similar
medical reality
Free
Alike Wisdom
Instantly get answers to medical questions with our AI, built from the collective wisdom of our community facing similar experiences
You might also like