What is Pedophilic Disorder?
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People who have Pedophilic Disorder have a powerful sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Many will sexually molest children at some point in their lives, and those who don’t will probably view and share child pornography. As most people go through puberty and mature in adolescence, the age of the people they are attracted to rises appropriately with their age. However, for people with Pedophilic Disorder, this doesn’t happen. They notice usually by middle adolescence that they are still attracted to much younger people, those who are still children. In fact, about 40% of people with Pedophilic Disorder have sexually molested a prepubescent child by the time they are 15 years old.
There are two main categories of people with this disorder: those attracted to both children and adults and those who prefer only children. Surprisingly, over 90% of them are in the first group. Many of these people molest children simply because they have an opportunity to do so and because they are intoxicated, isolated, or under some other stress. Some prefer boys, some girls, and others both. Another group only abuses children within their own families. This attraction to children is powerful, as strong as other sexual orientations like heterosexuality or homosexuality. It appears to be life-long even with treatment, and many continue to commit sexual abuse into old age.
Most people with this disorder struggle in a number of ways to function among others their age. They often have very poor self-esteem, spend a lot of time by themselves, and compare themselves negatively to others. They feel very insecure in social situations because they struggle to read or relate to other’s emotions. Intimate relationships with other age-appropriate adults do not come easily. They struggle to communicate well and are often passive-aggressive.