Tenbergen, Gilian, Wittfoth Matthias, Frieling Helge, Ponseti Jorge, Walter Martin, Walter Henrik, et al.; The Neurobiology and Psychology of Pedophilia: Recent Advances and Challenges; Frontiers in Human Neuroscience; 2015(9), 344, Jun 24 2015
A pedophilic disorder is recognized for its impairment to the individual and for the harm it may cause to others. Pedophilia is often considered a side issue and research into the nature of pedophilia is delayed in comparison to research into other psychiatric disorders.
However, with the increasing use of neuro-imaging techniques, such as functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI, fMRI), together with neurop-sychological studies, we are increasing our knowledge of predisposing and accompanying factors contributing to pedophilia development.
At the same time, we are faced with methodological challenges, such as group differences between studies, including age, intelligence, and comorbidities, together with a lack of careful assessment and control of child sexual abuse.
Having this in mind, this review highlights the most important studies investigating pedophilia, with a strong emphasis on (neuro-) biological studies, combined with a brief explanation of research into normal human sexuality.
We focus on some of the recent theories on the etiology of pedophilia such as the concept of a general neuro-developmental disorder and/or alterations of structure and function in frontal, temporal, and limbic brain areas.
With this approach, we aim to not only provide an update and overview but also a framework for future research and to address one of the most significant questions of how pedophilia may be explained by neurobiological and developmental alterations.
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Maniglio, Roberto; Child Sexual Abuse in the Etiology of Depression; Depression and Anxiety; 27(2010), 631 - 642
This article addresses the best available scienti?c evidence on the topic, by providing a systematic review of the several reviews that have investigated the literature on the issue.
Seven databases were searched, supplemented with hand search of reference lists from retrieved papers.
Four reviews, including about 60,000 subjects from 160 studies and having no limitations that could invalidate their results, were analyzed.
There is evidence that child sexual abuse is a signi?cant, although general and nonspeci?c, risk factor for depression.
Additional variables may either act independently to promote depression in people with a history of sexual abuse or interact with such traumatic experience to increase the likelihood of depression in child abuse survivors.
For all victims of abuse, programs should focus not only on treating symptoms, but also on reducing additional risk factors. Depressed adults who seek psychiatric treatment should be enquired about early abuse within admission procedures.