Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Response to SSRI in a Female Pedophile

  • Published:
Archives of Sexual Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although much investigation has been done with male sex offenders, there have been few studies on female sex offenders. Female sex offenders have been reported as having a high incidence of psychiatric disorders, but female paraphilics were rarely described. The literature on the treatment of female sex offenders is also limited and treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) has not been reported. This paper presents the case of a woman with DSM-IV pedophilia. Her clinical characteristics, her offense history, and her positive response to treatment with sertraline (a SSRI) are described. This case adds to the limited literature on female pedophiles and suggests that SSRIs may be an effective treatment for paraphilic disorders in female sex offenders.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Abouesh, A. I., & Clayton, A. H. (1999). Compulsive voyeurism and exhibitionism: A clinical response to paroxetine. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 28, 23-30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Badgely, R. (1984). Sexual offences against children. Ottawa: Badgely Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradford, J. (1996). The role of serotonin in the future of forensic psychiatry. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 24, 57-72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradford, J. M., & Pawlak, A. E. (1993). Double-blind placebo crossover study of cyproterone acetate in the treatment of the paraphilias. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 22, 383-402.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss, A. H., & Plomin, R. (1975). A temperament theory of personality development. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clayton, A. (1993). Fetishism and Clomipramine. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 673-674.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coccaro, E. F., & Kavoussi, R. J. (1997). Fluoxetine and impulsive behavior in personality-disordered subjects. Archives of General Psychiatry, 54, 1081-1088.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, A. J., Ismail, A. A., Phanjoo, A. L., & Love, D. L. (1972). Antiandrogen (cyproterone) therapy in deviant hypersexuality. British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 59-63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, A. J., Swaminath, S., Baxter, D., & Poulin, C. (1990). A female sex offender with multiple paraphilias: A psychologic, physiologic (laboratory sexual arousal) and endocrine case study. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 334-337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davanzo, P. A., Belin, T. R., Widawski, M. H., & King, B. H. (1998). Paroxetine treatment of aggression and self-injury in persons with mental retardation. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 102, 427-437.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derogatis, L. R. (1994). Symptom Checklist-90-R.Administration, Scoring, and Procedures Manual (3rd ed.). Minneapolis: National Computer Systems, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickey, R. L. (1989). Pharmacological treatment of sexually anomalous behavior. Drug Protocol, 4, 7-10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durst, R., Katz, G., & Knobler, H. Y. (1997). Buspirone augmentation of fluvoxamine in the treatment of kleptomania. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 185, 586-588.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedoroff, J. P. (1993). Serotonergic drug treatment of deviant sexual interests. Annals of Sex Research, 6, 105-121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedoroff, J. P. (1995). Antiandrogen vs. serotonergic medications in the treatment of sex offenders: A preliminary compliance study. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 4, 111-122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedoroff, J. P., & Fedoroff, I. C. (1992). Buspirone and paraphilic sexual behaviour. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 18, 89-108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gijs, L., & Gooren, L. J. (1996). Hormonal and psychopharmacological interventions in the treatment of paraphilias: An update. Journal of Sex Research, 33, 273-290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, W. K., Price, L. H., Rasmussen, S. A., Mazure, C. M., Fleischmann, R. L., Hill, C. L., et al. (1989). The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 1006-1011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, A. H., & Kaplan, M. S. (1994). Psychiatric impairment and childhood victimization experiences in female child molesters. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 33, 954-961.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, D. M., & Bradford, J. M. (1997). Treatment of the paraphilia disorders: A review of the role of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 9, 349-360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, D. M., Bradford, J. M., Curry, S., & O'Rourke, A. B. (1996). A comparison of treatment of paraphilias with three serotonin reuptake inhibitors: A retrospective study. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 24, 525-532.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grier, P. E., Clark, M., & Stoner, S. B. (1993). Comparative study of personality traits of female sex offenders. Psychological Reports, 73, 1378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, M. (1959). The assessment of anxiety states by rating. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 32, 50-55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, M. (1960). Arating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 56-62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollander, E., DeCaria, C. M., Mari, E., Wong, C. M., Mosovich, S. A., Grossman, R., et al. (1998). Short-term single-blind fluvoxamine treatment of pathological gambling. American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 1781-1783.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kafka, M. (1994). Sertraline pharmacotherapy for paraphilias and paraphilia related disorders: An open trial. Annuals of Clinical Psychiatry, 6, 189-195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kafka, M. P., & Prentky, R. A. (1992). Fluoxetine treatment of nonparaphilic sexual addictions and paraphilias in men. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 53, 351-358.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kavoussi, R. J., & Coccaro, E. F. (1994). An open trial of sertraline in personality disordered patients with impulsive aggression. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 55, 137-141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knopp, F. H., & Lackey, L.B. (1987). Female sexual abusers: A summary of data from 44 treatment providers. Orwell, VT: The Safer Society Program of the New York State Council of Churches.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kravitz, H. M., Haywood, T. W., Kelly, J., Wahlstrom, C., Liles, S., & Cavanaugh, J. L. (1995). Medroxyprogesterone treatment for paraphilia. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 23, 19-33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marvasti, J. (1986). Incestuous mothers.American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 7, 63-69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellor, C. S., Farid, N. R., & Craig, D. F. (1988). Female hypersexuality treated with cyproterone acetate. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 1037.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Connor, A. (1987). Female sex offenders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 615-620.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perilstein, R. D., Lipper, S., & Friedman, L. J. (1991). Three cases of pedophila responsive to fluoxetine treatment. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 52, 169-170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Travin, S., Cullen, K., & Protter, B. (1990). Female sex offenders: Severe victims and victimizers. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 35, 140-150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, F. (1985). Twelve female sexual offenders. Paper presented at the Next Steps in Research on the Assessment and Treatment of Sexually Aggressive Persons (Paraphiliacs), St. Louis, MO.

  • Zavitzianos, G. (1971). Fetishism and exhibitionism in the female and their relationship to psychopathy and kleptomania. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 52, 297-305.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Eva W. C. Chow & Alberto L. Choy

Authors
  1. Eva W. C. Chow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alberto L. Choy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chow, E.W.C., Choy, A.L. Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Response to SSRI in a Female Pedophile. Arch Sex Behav 31, 211–215 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014795321404

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014795321404

Search

Navigation