An adolescent with bestiality behaviour: Psychological evaluation and community health concerns

Abstract

Bestiality is a serious but less commonly reported form of animal cruelty occurring in a society. It is a punishable sexual offence in India. Bestiality has received little attention in recent psychiatric literature, and even though case reports have been published, an elaborate psychological assessment is often missing. This case report of 18 year old male presented here highlighted the importance of psychological assessment to emphasize on its implications for the further risk assessment of the person, family psycho-education and non-pharmacological intervention for bestialists. The overall assessment suggested of absence of any brain dysfunction and active psychopathology, average intelligence (IQ) and intact cognitive functioning. The findings portrayed physical and sexual inadequacies, emotional and sexual immaturity, difficulty in emotional attachment, internalized hostility, voyeuristic tendencies and infantile social behaviour, excitement seeker, inability to delay gratification of impulses, lacks empathy, poor self-discipline, less conscientiousness and less sensitive to criticism. The report also emphasized the role of child sexual abuse on sexual behavior later life. The importance of including the topic within the community health/sexual and reproductive health education programmes was highlighted.

Zoophilia as an Early Sign of Psychosis

“…The psychological tests (TN-10, MMPI-201, PIE, WTC, Machover) showed a lower intellectual efficiency with a suspected start of a deeper, in fact psychotic process. We have found similar results of psychological testing, foremost in the area of lower intellectual functioning and inadequate social behaviour in an article by Satapathy and associates, which described a case of zoophilia of an eighteen year old boy who has, like out patient, lived on a farm, in a rural area, with a family with a large number of children, and who had not been diagnosed with another psychiatric comorbity alongside zoophilia [18]. Lastly, Amoo and associates have described a case of a twenty year old man affected with schizophrenia with premorbid zoophilic orientation and antisocial personality traits, who had due to the symptoms of endogenic psychotic process recurred zoophilic behaviour.…”

Bestiality: A Cruelty Towards Animal

“…He also possessed very poor self-discipline andhas difficultly establishing emotional and sexual intimacy. (1)…”

“…Bestiality is a type of sexual offense in which animals are used as a means to fulfill sexual desire without any sort of emotional bonding (1) .It is also known as Animal Sexual Abuse (ASA) and includes the sexual molestation of animals, by fondling their genitalia, vaginal, anal, or oral penetration or oral-genital contacts (from person to animal and vice a versa); penetration with an object; and injuring or killing an animal for sexual gratification (17) .…”

“…Animals much remain uncertain about sexual activity or attraction (4) . Dr. John Macdonald was the first American psychiatrist who described the possible connection between animal cruelty and human violence (7) .A person who has committed bestiality as a child is most likely to commit interpersonal adult crimes (1) .…”

Bestiality: An introduction for legal and mental health professionals

“…In contrast, Kinsey et al (, ) found that individuals who have sex with animals may be more educated than the general population, with close to half of their subjects with a history of bestiality reporting that they had obtained a college degree. Case reports have variously documented the occurrence of human–animal sexual acts in individuals with autism (Chandradasa & Champika, ); alcohol use (Satapathy, Swain, Pandey, & Behera, ); depressive disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and antisocial personality disorder (Holoyda, ); and transvestism and pedophilia in the context of mania (Mendhekar & Mehta, ). Lesandric, Orlovic, Peitl, and Karlovic () wrote about a case of zoophilia in a young man who had sex with a cow in his early teens, persistent zoophilic fantasies throughout his teen years, then another episode of intercourse with a cow in his early 20s, before ultimately decompensating into psychosis.…”