As I watch the news, there appear to be many people from other countries, in addition to our own citizens, who are in trouble for sexual crimes against children. It is a more prevalent problem than we would like to believe.

It is, and has been, a problem nationally and locally. People who do these things frequently have pedophilia.

What is that?

Pedophilia involves a persistent sexual interest in children, up to and including the age of 12. That interest can include sexual thoughts, fantasies, arousal and also acting on those thoughts and fantasies. They may have no interest in adults because the sexual preference is children.

The pedophile may be attracted to both children and adults. The target can be either male or female. You cannot tell if someone has pedophilia just by their appearance.

No one can say with any certainty how many pedophiles there are in our own citizens, but the guess is about 3-5% of males, and a much smaller percent of females.

Most sex offenders are males. There are pedophiles who have never acted on their fantasies, and may limit their activity to child pornography. An extensive use and collection of child pornography is not unusual with pedophiles.

lt has been reported that there are some predictors that may tell if a person who is already a pedophilic offender may reoffend again. For example, if the offender frankly says that he likes children, if the preference is boys, and if there are physical signs of sexual arousal as measured by medical devices (phallometrically), then a high probability to reoffend exists. The wild card is trying to predict if a pedophile, who has no history of sexual contact with a child, will act, or will remain under the radar.

One study followed child pornography offenders for two and a half years. Four percent of them committed a sexual offense during the study. Another study found that child pornography watchers, who also have had any kind of prior criminal history, had a higher probability to sexually offend. They may have already shown that they are risk takers, may be using drugs or alcohol, are impulsive, disregard laws, and lack empathy, etc. These people are at increased risk of acting on their sexual interest in children.

There is a related, but different, condition called Hebephilia. This involves a sexual preference for children who are in their teens, about age 13 and up. Here, the target has started the process of sexual development, is in the process, but is not yet physically sexually mature.

The triggers for arousal in hebephiliacs are different from the triggers for pedophilic arousal. Again, the target can be either male or female.

Different types of treatment have been tried with pedophiles. For example, therapy using unpleasant aversive psychological techniques is used to try to teach them to control their sexual arousal. Techniques that focus on their thinking, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors have also been tried.

Yet another approach involves medical drug treatments to try to reduce the sexual arousal to children. Even surgical castration has been tried, but there does not appear to be many studies on this particular approach, so the jury is out.

Unfortunately, clinical work and research have not demonstrated that there is a cure. As a consequence, psychological interventions try to reduce being sexually aroused by children, and/or to help develop self-management skills.

Permanent cures that guarantee an end to the problem have not been found.

Unfortunately, at this time, there is not strong evidence that there are therapeutic interventions to cure a person who has pedophilia. The best advice for parents is to keep an eye on who your child is exposed. If someone comes across as showing unusual interest or attention to your child, be vigilant.

— Dr. Joseph Switras provides clinical psychological services at United Health District in Fairmont to people age 5 and up.