Understanding Paraphilias: Causes, Symptoms, and Management

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Paraphilias

by Alike Medical Team ∙ Updated on June 13, 2023

General

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.

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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.

Note

☝ We provide information on prescription and over-the-counter medicines, diagnosis, procedures and lab tests. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

National Institutes of Health ∙ World Health Organization ∙ MedlinePluse ∙ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

☝ All information has been reviewed by certified physicians from Alike

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