Increasing the Self-Esteem of Child Molesters

The present paper reviews what is currently known about sexual abuse and the treatment of the offenders. Sexual offending is primarily committed by males and as many as 50% of females and 33% of males are sexually victimized in some way during their life. While some of these acts involve minimally intrusive behaviours (e.g. exhibitionists), many involve forced vaginal or anal intercourse and varying degrees of associated physical violence and deliberate humiliation of the victim. The effects on the victim can be severe and long-lasting. Current theories of the aetiology of these behaviours incorporate biological and developmental factors occurring within a socio-cultural context that fails to discourage sexual abuse. Experience is said to create a vulnerability that in some men finds expression in sexually abusive behaviour. Appropriate assessment targets the issues that are addressed in treatment, including: cognitive distortions, sexual behaviours and attitudes, social functioning and substance abuse. In addition, treatment also attempts to generate a set of relapse prevention plans for each offender. NATURE AND PREVALENCE OF THE OFFENCESSexual offences include a variety of behaviours, such as exhibitionism, frotteurism, voyeurism, child molestation, and sexual assault. This article will be restricted to child molestation (both extrafamilial and incest) and sexual assault of women. Although women (Matthews, 1998) and children (Johnson, 1998) also commit sexual offences, males constitute the majority of offenders and will be the focus of this article.

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“…7, 85-96 (2000) 91 several times each day. This overall approach has been shown to effectively enhance self-esteem (Marshall et al, 1997b).…”

Section: Assessment and Treatment Of Sexual Offendersmentioning

confidence: 98%

Current issues in the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders

Marshall

Serran

2000

Clin. Psychol. Psychother.

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“…McGrath, Hoke, and Vijtisek (1998) obtained similar results when they compared cognitive±behavioral treatment and nonspeci®c mental health treatment. Other researchers (e.g., Marshall et al, 1997) have also reported treatment eects.…”

Section: Treatment Effectivenessmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Freund (1990) described rape as the result of speci®c, interpersonal de®cits (i.e., courtship failure). Marshall and his colleagues (Marshall, Turner & Barbaree, 1989;Marshall, 1993;Ward, McCormack, & Hudson, 1997) have described diculties with intimacy and loneliness as well as self-esteem (Marshall, Champange, Sturgeon, & Bryce, 1997); others have pointed to larger social processing de®cits (Johnson & Ward, 1996). Many have described cognitive processes that are distorted (e.g., Bumby, 1996), but it is unclear whether the distortions preceded and facilitated the sexual violence or were oered as defenses when the perpetrator was held to account.…”

Section: Who Are Sex Offenders?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological assessment, treatment, and outcome with sex offenders

Wood¹,

Grossman

Fichtner

2000

Behav. Sci. Law

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The frequency and impact of sexual offenses have led to the recent enactment of sexual “predator” laws. Such laws are intended to reduce sexual violence through treatment and involuntary confinement. Sixty years ago, similar laws identifying “sexual psychopaths” were enacted and, in many states, eventually repealed for multiple reasons; among those reasons was an inability to demonstrate that treatment had any significant impact on recidivism. That inability forced us to reexamine, among other issues, the population(s) which undergo treatment, the outcomes that are used to measure treatment effectiveness, and the processes that constitute treatment itself. Those issues are considered in this paper through a review of treatment programs based on psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive–behavioral theories. Although the evidence is sparse, it is fair to conclude that the latter have been found to be effective. We call for dynamic measures, effective treatments, and the resources necessary for both developments. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…Sex offenders are generally regarded as having low self-esteem, which it is believed may contribute to their offending and hinder progress in therapy. Finkelhor (1984) and Groth (1979) have suggested that low self-esteem and sex offending are related, while Marshall, Champagne, Sturgeon and Bryce (1997) found that enhancement of self-esteem facilitated the attainment of a number of specific treatment goals and was associated with reductions in deviant arousal. Fisher et al (1999) found significantly lower levels of self-esteem in child abusers compared to non-offenders.…”

Section: Socoeffectve Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The rehabilitation of child sex offenders

Beech

Fisher²

2002

Australian Psychologist

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Modelof treatment is described which outlines the typical cognitive-behavioural approach to treatment of child sexual abusers in the United Kingdom (UK) The model describes treatment, which addresses the following areas: denial, offence specific deficits, socloaffective problems and relapse prevention skills. Research evidence is outlined as to why these areas need to be addressed in treatment, and an argument is made about the importance of dealing with the areas in the order set out in the model. Finally, the model outlines potential mediators to treatment effectiveness: motivation to change, locus of control and level of fixation. In this section of the model we describe how these can have an effect upon treatment efficacy.

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Increasing the Self-Esteem of Child Molesters

Cited by 45 publications

References 48 publications

Current issues in the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders

Current issues in the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders

Psychological assessment, treatment, and outcome with sex offenders

The rehabilitation of child sex offenders

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