Pedophilia Brain Defect
June 6, 2017 at 1:17 pm
(This post was last modified: June 6, 2017 at 1:19 pm by brewer.)
Right temporal lobe pole and right amygdala, less of gray matter volume.
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Brains of Individuals with Pedophilic Disorder
Joel Yager, MD: Schiffer B et al. Transl Psychiatry 2017 May 16.
Individuals with histories of sexual offenses against children, but not those with pedophilic interests alone, show small gray-matter volumes in the right temporal pole.
DSM-5 distinguishes individuals with “pedophilic sexual interests” (who have pedophilic impulses and fantasies that do not impair them and who have never acted on their impulses) from those having “pedophilic disorder” (who have acted on their impulses or are otherwise impaired). Investigators in Germany examined brain-imaging differences between these groups in a convenience sample recruited from e-mail lists and online advertising.
Participants were 58 sexually offending pedophiles (victims' mean age, 8 years), 60 pedophiles with no contact offenses, and 101 nonoffending men attracted only to mature adults. All completed structured clinical interviews and other assessments.
Analyses controlled for age, education, IQ, sexual orientation, drug misuse/dependence, other Axis I or II disorders, and criminality. On magnetic resonance imaging, whole-brain gray-matter volumes did not differ between the nonoffending-pedophilia and healthy-control groups. However, significant differences were seen between nonoffending and offending pedophiles, with the latter showing lower mean gray-matter volume in the right temporal pole. The degree of decreased volume in this area correlated with heightened risk for future offenses (based on screening scores). Other areas (e.g., in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) showed no significant differences. Post hoc analyses showed significant gray-matter volume reductions specifically in the right amygdala, only in comparisons of pedophiles attracted to boys and healthy controls attracted to women.
COMMENT
This study is the first to show structural brain differences between offending and nonoffending pedophilic men but no differences between individuals with pedophilic interests and healthy controls. Affected areas have been associated with empathy, social and sexual cueing, and behavioral inhibition. If confirmed in larger studies, these findings will raise numerous developmental, therapeutic, and forensic questions.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Brains of Individuals with Pedophilic Disorder
Joel Yager, MD: Schiffer B et al. Transl Psychiatry 2017 May 16.
Individuals with histories of sexual offenses against children, but not those with pedophilic interests alone, show small gray-matter volumes in the right temporal pole.
DSM-5 distinguishes individuals with “pedophilic sexual interests” (who have pedophilic impulses and fantasies that do not impair them and who have never acted on their impulses) from those having “pedophilic disorder” (who have acted on their impulses or are otherwise impaired). Investigators in Germany examined brain-imaging differences between these groups in a convenience sample recruited from e-mail lists and online advertising.
Participants were 58 sexually offending pedophiles (victims' mean age, 8 years), 60 pedophiles with no contact offenses, and 101 nonoffending men attracted only to mature adults. All completed structured clinical interviews and other assessments.
Analyses controlled for age, education, IQ, sexual orientation, drug misuse/dependence, other Axis I or II disorders, and criminality. On magnetic resonance imaging, whole-brain gray-matter volumes did not differ between the nonoffending-pedophilia and healthy-control groups. However, significant differences were seen between nonoffending and offending pedophiles, with the latter showing lower mean gray-matter volume in the right temporal pole. The degree of decreased volume in this area correlated with heightened risk for future offenses (based on screening scores). Other areas (e.g., in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) showed no significant differences. Post hoc analyses showed significant gray-matter volume reductions specifically in the right amygdala, only in comparisons of pedophiles attracted to boys and healthy controls attracted to women.
COMMENT
This study is the first to show structural brain differences between offending and nonoffending pedophilic men but no differences between individuals with pedophilic interests and healthy controls. Affected areas have been associated with empathy, social and sexual cueing, and behavioral inhibition. If confirmed in larger studies, these findings will raise numerous developmental, therapeutic, and forensic questions.
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