German doc targets paedophiles as patients
MUMBAI: India may soon be introduced to a new way of battling child sexual abuse—treating paedophiles. Dr Klaus Beier, director of the ...
Times of India - 11 hours ago
German doc targets paedophiles as patients
MUMBAI: India may soon be introduced to a new way of battling child sexual abuse—treating paedophiles. Dr Klaus Beier,
director of the Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine at the
Charite University in Berlin and a pioneer in researching and working
with paedophiles, is set to bring his programme to India. He is
currently in talks with hospitals, NGOs and a big business organisation
for funding. He hopes to roll out the programme in Mumbai and Pune in
2016.
The programme, currently in place in Berlin, is possibly the only one in the world working on a targeted approach to treat paedophiles. A specialist in psychosomatic medicine and a practicing sexologist for over 25 years, Beier began his project for preventing paedophilia in 2005, which was accompanied by a massive ad campaign in Berlin targeting paedophiles at risk to commit offence and providing details of where they could access help. The tagline for the ad read, "Do you like children in ways you shouldn't?"
"There is no cure for paedophilia, but it can be treated. There are many medical disorders, like, for instance, diabetes, for which there is no cure, but which can be controlled," says Beier in an interview with TOI. He calls paedophilia a sexual preference that manifests itself in adolescence and remains unchanged through life. Earlier this week, at a conference on child sexual abuse by The Foundation, a non-profit founded by actor Rahul Bose, Beier displayed pictures drawn by paedophiles, which showed sexual fantasies targeting children. The same person drew similar pictures at the age of 15 and at 45.
Data from studies in Germany and the US show that 60% of child sex offenders are not paedophiles, but are people who merely substitute children for adults. The remaining 40% are paedophiles, that is, people who are sexually attracted to children. Some paedophiles are not disturbed by their actions, and feel society should not make a big deal of that. "For these people, you have the law enforcement machinery," says Beier. "However, others are genuinely disturbed by their orientation and don't know how to deal with it. It's important that they have the option to seek help," says Beier, adding that there are paedophiles who have never abused children, but are disturbed about feeling the way they do towards children.
Paedophiles, he says, are of two kinds—those who are exclusively attracted to children and those who are attracted to both adults and children. Both kinds, says Beier, require help to deal with their orientation.
Ads on bus stops, in print, on television and on the internet helped paedophiles who had not been reported to the police to seek help voluntarily. The one-year intervention programme they went through included learning impulse control through behavioural techniques, as well as tools that improved their social functioning and, in some cases, pharmaceuticals, particularly androgen-deprivation therapy. Androgen is a male sex hormone, the deprivation of which results in reduced sexual desire. Klaus says paedophilia is virtually always exhibited in men. Of the thousands of cases he has dealt with over the years, he encountered only one woman.
While paedophiles undergoing therapy will, eventually have to live in a world where they will encounter children, much the way alcoholics live in a world where they cannot avoid seeing alcohol, the treatment helps them learn how they can avoid acting out their urges vis-a-vis children.
comment:- please try it for homosexuality ;which also comes under a very similar medical disorder
The programme, currently in place in Berlin, is possibly the only one in the world working on a targeted approach to treat paedophiles. A specialist in psychosomatic medicine and a practicing sexologist for over 25 years, Beier began his project for preventing paedophilia in 2005, which was accompanied by a massive ad campaign in Berlin targeting paedophiles at risk to commit offence and providing details of where they could access help. The tagline for the ad read, "Do you like children in ways you shouldn't?"
"There is no cure for paedophilia, but it can be treated. There are many medical disorders, like, for instance, diabetes, for which there is no cure, but which can be controlled," says Beier in an interview with TOI. He calls paedophilia a sexual preference that manifests itself in adolescence and remains unchanged through life. Earlier this week, at a conference on child sexual abuse by The Foundation, a non-profit founded by actor Rahul Bose, Beier displayed pictures drawn by paedophiles, which showed sexual fantasies targeting children. The same person drew similar pictures at the age of 15 and at 45.
Data from studies in Germany and the US show that 60% of child sex offenders are not paedophiles, but are people who merely substitute children for adults. The remaining 40% are paedophiles, that is, people who are sexually attracted to children. Some paedophiles are not disturbed by their actions, and feel society should not make a big deal of that. "For these people, you have the law enforcement machinery," says Beier. "However, others are genuinely disturbed by their orientation and don't know how to deal with it. It's important that they have the option to seek help," says Beier, adding that there are paedophiles who have never abused children, but are disturbed about feeling the way they do towards children.
Paedophiles, he says, are of two kinds—those who are exclusively attracted to children and those who are attracted to both adults and children. Both kinds, says Beier, require help to deal with their orientation.
Ads on bus stops, in print, on television and on the internet helped paedophiles who had not been reported to the police to seek help voluntarily. The one-year intervention programme they went through included learning impulse control through behavioural techniques, as well as tools that improved their social functioning and, in some cases, pharmaceuticals, particularly androgen-deprivation therapy. Androgen is a male sex hormone, the deprivation of which results in reduced sexual desire. Klaus says paedophilia is virtually always exhibited in men. Of the thousands of cases he has dealt with over the years, he encountered only one woman.
While paedophiles undergoing therapy will, eventually have to live in a world where they will encounter children, much the way alcoholics live in a world where they cannot avoid seeing alcohol, the treatment helps them learn how they can avoid acting out their urges vis-a-vis children.
comment:- please try it for homosexuality ;which also comes under a very similar medical disorder
