Published in:
01-12-2018 | Current Controversies (PJ Kleinplatz and C Moser, Section Editors)
“Can People with Pedophilia Change?: Yes they can!”
Published in: Current Sexual Health Reports | Issue 4/2018
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Purpose of Review
This review is written in response to an invitation to explain why clinicians should reconsider the statement: “Once a pedophile always a pedophile”.
Recent Findings
Reviewed in this paper are challenges to the concept that pedophilia is “hard-wired” during a “critical period”, the idea that all people with pedophilia reoffend, the idea that people with pedophilia are like “boiling pots”, and that high-risk sex offenders are always high risk. The idea that pedophilia is an orientation is also redefined. Together, these observations and studies support a paradigm shift in favor of pedophilia being viewed as treatable condition characterized by a persistent sexual interest in children and a failure to develop adult sexual interests.
Summary
The available evidence suggests that sexual interests are subject to the same range of influences as other interests. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, clinicians should inform patients that there is no evidence that paraphilias, including pedophilia, cannot change. This therapeutic perspective is evidence based and increases the responsibility that people with pedophilia take for their actions and enhances their motivation and optimism for healthy change in both sexual interests and actions. This perspective enhances the prospect of successful treatment outcomes for people with pedophilia (and other) paraphilias.