There’s a lot of confusion about pedophilic disorder, often referred to as pedophilia, and what exactly it entails.
The topic of pedophilic disorder can be a controversial one, especially for those who don’t know what it is and how it’s treated in the mental health community.
Though pedophilia is widely associated with child molestation, one does not necessarily lead to the other. You may live with this mental health condition and never harm another person.
Clarity and understanding of the signs and symptoms can make all the difference in your treatment plan.
Pedophilic disorder is classified as a type of paraphilic disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the primary diagnostic tool of mental health professionals in the United States.
Paraphilic disorders are intense, recurrent urges, fantasies, or behaviors that:
Living with pedophilic disorder isn’t your choice. Some causes may include poor adult social development, past personal abuse, or brain abnormalities.
“It is important for people to understand that there are many stereotypes about pedophiles that we need to debunk,” explains Dr. Thomas Plante, a psychology professor at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. “Most people think of creepy and disheveled strangers that snatch innocent children off the streets.”
If you’re living with pedophilic disorder, you may feel aroused by children, but you’ll also feel extreme distress at the same time. This can stop you from participating in events or daily routines. You often have a sense of anxiety and guilt.
For these reasons, pedophilic disorder is not a sexual orientation. As a type of paraphilic disorder, it’s a condition that causes impairment or distress for the person living with it.
Pedophilic sexual orientation, on the other hand, involves the absence of anxiety, shame, or guilt at being sexually attracted to children.
“We need to remember that pedophilia, really, is folks who target or are sexually interested in pre-pubescent children,” Plante says.
“Some people are primarily interested in teenagers, but we call them ‘ephebophiles,’ and their diagnostic profile and treatment approach really differ from pedophiles.”
A licensed mental health professional or medical doctor can help diagnosis pedophilic disorder.
While the DSM-5 cites extensive use of child pornography as a reliable indicator of pedophilic disorder, some clinicians may also use the Abel Assessment for Sexual Interest (AASI-3).
The AASI-3 can be used to help evaluate both men and women. It can shed light on sexual interests in children as well as your probability of past child sexual abuse.
Additional diagnostic tools may be used. These include penile plethysmography in men and vaginal photoplethysmography in women. This is a way to measure blood flow to your genitals as an arousal response while images of children are shown, varying on a spectrum from “normal” photos to more sexualized images.
