C. A child molester is by definition a pedophile

Multiple lines of evidence suggest that paraphilic interests do change. These include the fact that sex crime rates are dropping, the incidence of sex crimes decreases as people age, and the likelihood that a known high-risk sex offender will ever re-offend decreases the longer the offender does not commit a crime-as well as the self-report of men and women with paraphilic disorders.

 Currently, some approaches seek to change the manner in which sex offenders against children are assessed and treated, even in the face of popular media. One such program leading the way is the Sexual Behaviours Clinic (SBC) at The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. In 2015, the SBC received the top award given by the American Psychiatric Association for “Best Academic Out-patient Clinical Research Program.” In the past 15 years, the known hands-on re-offence rate of sex offenders treated in the SBC has fallen to virtually zero. For more on this topic, see “

 by J. Paul Fedoroff, MD, on which this quiz was based. In his article, Dr Fedoroff explains some of the realities about sex offenders and why psychiatrists should be more optimistic about their patients’ prognoses.

This quiz article was originally posted on 8/16/2016 and has since been updated.

 Fedoroff JP. Managing versus successfully treating paraphilic disorders: the paradigm is changing. In: Levine CB, Althof SE, eds. 

Handbook of Clinical Sexuality for Mental Health Professionals.

 New York: Taylor and Francis; 2016:345-361.

 Fedoroff JP. Pedophilia: interventions that work. 

Sexual & Sexuality

Forensic Psychiatry

Quizzes

What does the scientific evidence tell us about treatment for pedophilia? The answer might surprise you.