Question
Answered step-by-step
valoriel36
This my response to the following question, review to make sure i’m…
This my response to the following question, review to make sure i’m on the right track please explain your response.
After watching The Agenda with Steve Pailin (2014) resource, respond to the following prompts:
What’s your reaction to how people with pedophilia seem to have different characteristics than those who do not.
What is your personal reaction to this?
What is your reaction to this from a clinical perspective?
If you were counseling someone with this disorder, how could you best help them?
When I saw the discussion post was regarding pedophilia, I immediately tensed up. I made myself lower my guard and biases to absorb the information.
I was surprised and caught off guard by the differences in handedness. Paikin (2014) mentioned that the only the other groups with a higher propensity for non-right handedness were individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and autistic individuals.
I was expecting those with pedophilia to have higher IQ’s and not the ten to fifteen points lower than average. I realized I was attributing that to the abuses conducted by religious and other powers of authority being somehow more intelligent, or the individual making themselves smarter to hide their pedophilia.
I felt the size difference between pedophile and adult sexual abusers to be insignificant. Taking the information about handedness and IQ together (ignoring the heigh aspect), I wondered what the strong neurological component that was prevalent among the pedophilic population; did something fail to form? Is a component or part of the brain hypertrophied (enlarged) that shouldn’t be? Paikin then mentions the differences in white matter, and that in pedophiles children invoke the sex response,.
I had to check my reactions “at the door” to speak. Even before I became a mother, I have been a friend of those who experienced childhood sexual assault. I became an aunt worried about my niece and nephew. I was an avid watcher of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. I admit that I possess the “remove them from society” perspective. While I can accept pedophilia as a mental health disorder, I have a difficult time divorcing the idea of immediate societal removal and punishment for this.
From a clinical perspective, it makes sense that those with this affliction should be treated to reduce the possibility of harm they can cause to society. I do wonder about the effectiveness of treatment modalities, and long-term prognosis.
If a person presented to my practice with pedophilia, I would need supervision as soon as possible. I would elect to speak with a personal therapist about my own reservations to see how I can learn to control my feelings, visceral reactions, and biases. Paikin stated he developed a thick skin after two weeks. I think I would need much longer. I honestly do not know how effective I could be and would be concerned I would need to refer out.
References:
The Agenda with Steve Paikin. (2014, January 21). Mysteries of the mind: The pedophile’s brain (HD) [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB6zwvBtDK8
