DD310 Counselling & Forensic Psychology: Informing About Paraphilias

This essay explores paraphilias, a mental disorder characterized by unusual sexual desires, and addresses the myths and misconceptions surrounding it. It emphasizes the crucial roles of counseling and forensic psychology in informing the public about paraphilias, distinguishing between intentional sexual offenses and mental disorders. The analysis highlights how counseling helps uncover repressed feelings, while forensic psychology delves into the causes of sexual offenses by analyzing offenders' thought processes. The essay concludes that counseling and forensic psychology are essential in clarifying the understanding of paraphilias within both psychological and legal contexts, advocating for a clear demarcation between criminal behavior and mental health issues.

Running head: COUNSELING AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY INFORMING ABOUT PARAPHILIAS
COUNSELING AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY INFORMING ABOUT PARAPHILIAS
Name of the student
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COUNSELING AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY INFORMING ABOUT PARAPHILIAS
Introduction
Paraphilia is described as a mental disorder where an individual faces problems regarding
her or his inability to control her or his urge for sex (Di Lorenzo et al. 2018). The uncontrollable
urge often centers on objects, situation or activities, which are usually not considered sexually
stimulating.
The disorder even causes individuals to commit crimes and be arrested for that. Although
the disorder is quite prevalent, little notice is given to its cure. The role of counselors and
forensic psychologists here becomes crucial. They could provide the help that the paraphilic
individuals need.
The aim of this essay is to discuss the ways counseling and forensic psychology could
inform people about the paraphilias. In doing so, the essay will first explain what paraphilia is
and then highlight the myths and misconceptions about the disorder. Further, the essay will
discuss the role of counselors and forensic psychologists in making people aware about
paraphilia and the paraphilias.
Discussion
As described above, paraphilia refers to the unusual sexual desire of individuals who find
objects, activities and situations sexually stimulating that others find odd or abnormal. It has
often been found that paraphilic disorders are mistakenly associated with any or every unusual
sexual behavior. According to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, paraphilias must possess interests
such as feeling personal agony regarding their awareness, not just agony resulting from the
disapproval of the society (Dsm.psychiatryonline.org 2019). In addition, the criteria requires that
people possess a sexual behavior or craving that entails another Individual’s psychological pain,

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COUNSELING AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY INFORMING ABOUT PARAPHILIAS
death or injury; or craving for sexual behaviors concerning reluctant people or those incapable of
giving legal consent. Ward (2014) finds that paraphilia is most common amongst men than it is
in women.
The DSM-5 also made changes to the meaning and definition of certain terms and
concepts related to atypical psychological behavior especially in terms of sexual behavior. For
instance, the the Sexual Masochism, which was earlier described as an atypical sexual interest in
DSM-4 is now included as Sexual Masochism Disorder in DSM-5. The DSM-5 has also
categorized the types of behaviors associated with paraphilias. These include sexual sadism
disorder, sexual masochism disorder, exhibitionistic disorder, fetishistic disorder, and voyeuristic
disorder amongst others. When a person has the compulsion to display his private parts or
genitals to an unsuspecting stranger, that person demonstrates exhibitionism. Sexual masochism
disorder occurs when a person feels sexually pleasured from humiliation, suffering and pain. In
contrast to this, sexual sadism disorder occurs when people receive sexual pleasure from
directing humiliation and pain on others. Fetishism is the disorder where the person uses
inanimate objects to satisfy himself sexually. Voyeurism, on the other hand, refers to the disorder
where individuals derive sexual pleasure from watching other people engaged in sexual activity
or looking at the genitals of others secretively.
Myths and misconceptions associated with paraphilias
Paraphilia, as evident from the above discussion, has been categorized as a psychological
disorder. However, at times, people misunderstand the disorder as an excuse by sex offenders to
defend their actions like rape, sexual assault and such. As Vossler et al. (2017) identify, sexual
violence and sexual offenders have always been of interest to psychiatry and this has caused

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COUNSELING AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY INFORMING ABOUT PARAPHILIAS
many myths about it emerge. According to the authors, the designation of paraphilia as
‘paraphilic coercive disorder’ in the first edition of DSM shows the extent to which, sexual
offences are influencing the field of psychiatry.
The myths and misconceptions have arose due to these interlinks between psychology
and criminology. Many social protestors have questioned the suggestion by psychologists that
sexual offence like rape or sexual abuse is a psychological disorder rather than an intended
attempt to harm others. The misunderstanding arises because of the variation in types of
paraphilia. While some paraphilic disorders do not lead to extreme incidences of sexual violence,
others might reach a level where it takes the form of crime. This causes misunderstandings to
emerge. People with minor paraphilic disorders might be adjudged as criminals and face social
isolation.
The DSM-5 has rejected coercive paraphilia as a reason for sexual offence and stated that
rape is not a mental disorder and that it does not justify psychiatric commitment still, some
consider addressing of any sexual offence as mental disorder against law. Offenders have long
misused psychiatry to protect the rapists from serving their sentences by addressing it as a
psychological disorder rather an act of criminality. With the rejection of rape as a psychological
disorder in the latest DSM edition, misunderstanding related to paraphilias could also be
removed.
The role of counselors and forensic psychologists becomes very important in this regard,
to help people suffering from this disorder and at the same time, clearing the misunderstanding.
Mental health counselors are those who provide counseling to the people facing mental
disorders. Counseling is important in assisting psychological distress because unlike physical

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COUNSELING AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY INFORMING ABOUT PARAPHILIAS
problems, psychological disorders could not be completely cured by medication. Mental health
counselors possess the knowledge about several behavioral and mental techniques with which
they could address the issues of paraphilia in a better way. Counselors have a unique way to
understand the distress of the people having paraphilia. For instance, a counselor would try to
analyze the mental condition of a paraphilic disorder person by asking him questions that would
bring out what he actually feels and even the way he thinks.
A counselor might ask a paraphilic person to rate the activities that involve the different
types of paraphilic disorders and express what they feel about it when they see people engaging
in such activities. questions including whether the activities involving sexual masochism
disorder, sexual sadism disorder, exhibitionism, fetishism, or voyeurism caused damage to
someone or not. In addition, the counselor would ask whether the damage was temporary or
permanent, whether it is caused to self or others, whether it is common or rare, whether it causes
distress, the extremity, people involved and so on. These questions might seem as quite common
behaviors for the people with paraphilic disorders but help counselors understand their behaviors
and predict future tendencies.
As evident from the discussion, counseling helps bring out the hidden or repressed
feelings of the paraphilias. The important point to remember is that these activities and behaviors
could have more potential risks of damage and harm than many of the common BDSM –
Bondage, Dominance/Submission, and Masochism – that depend mostly on consent and
awareness of risk (Tosh 2014). Counseling of paraphilias thus, makes the distinction between
paraphilia and other atypical sexual behaviors and mental disorders.

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COUNSELING AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY INFORMING ABOUT PARAPHILIAS
Forensic psychology refers to the study of psychology infused with law. Psychologists in
forensic psychology are mostly found working in legal establishments such as prisons,
rehabilitation centers, police departments, government agencies, schools and police departments
to name some. Therefore, as evident from the definition, forensic psychologists have an
important contribution towards understanding the paraphilias. The forensic psychologists have
the license to go deep into the minds of the sexual perpetrators and find out the level of the
disorder. Marshall and Marshall (2015) explain the importance of forensic psychology in
understanding sexual offences as results of paraphilia. According to the authors, forensic
psychology manages to understand the psychology of sex offenders while at the same time not
trying to protect them from being punished for their crimes.
Forensic psychology primarily involves in unearthing the deep-rooted causes of sexual
offences by analyzing the thought process of the offenders. This helps unravel the reasons behind
the crimes committed and whether any psychological distress influenced their actions.
In the above discussion, it is thus clear that paraphilia has been both pathologized and
criminalized. The repercussions of addressing paraphilias as a disorder or as a crime are quite
visible amongst people. Moser and Kleinplatz (2006) have found that people with transvestic
disorder – disorder where a person feels aroused by wearing clothes of the opposite sex – often
feel distressed and ashamed to find that they are being categorized as mentally disordered. Apart
from that, problem lies also with the association of this disorder to only men and not women.
Further, the criminal categorization of BDSM, where consents are confirmed from both sides
also poses a problem. Moser (2016) argues that if BDSM and homosexuality are considered
paraphilic disorders then heterosexuality must also be categorized in that sense. All these issues
shall be further explained including the criminalization and pathologization of LGBT people.

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COUNSELING AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY INFORMING ABOUT PARAPHILIAS
Conclusion
In the end, it is important to reiterate that counseling and forensic psychology could help
in clarifying the stance of paraphilias in terms of psychology and law. The analysis that was
carried out in the essay found that paraphilias are often criminalized and mostly pathologized.
The prime reason for this has been the misconception of the different types of paraphilias as
mentioned in the DSM-5 criteria. The analysis also found that counseling and forensic
psychology plays a crucial role in understanding the thought process of those having paraphilia.
Further, the analysis revealed that counseling and forensic psychology have an important
contribution to make in terms of clearly defining paraphilias. Counseling and forensic
psychology could help in demarcating between intentional sexual offence and mental disorder.

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COUNSELING AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY INFORMING ABOUT PARAPHILIAS
References:
Di Lorenzo, G., Gorea, F., Longo, L. and Ribolsi, M., 2018. Paraphilia and paraphilic disorders.
In Sexual Dysfunctions in Mentally Ill Patients (pp. 193-213). Springer, Cham.
Dsm.psychiatryonline.org (2019). Psychiatry Online | DSM Library. [online]
Dsm.psychiatryonline.org. Available at:
https://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.dsm19 [Accessed 16
Jan. 2019].
Marshall, W.L. and Marshall, L.E., 2015. Psychological Treatment of the Paraphilias: a Review
and an Appraisal of Effectiveness. Current psychiatry reports, 17(6), p.47.
Moser, C. and Kleinplatz, P.J., 2006. DSM-IV-TR and the paraphilias: An argument for
removal. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality, 17(3-4), pp.91-109.
Moser, C., 2016. DSM-5 and the paraphilic disorders: Conceptual issues. Archives of sexual
behavior, 45(8), pp.2181-2186.
Tosh, J., 2014. Perverse psychology: The pathologization of sexual violence and transgenderism.
Routledge.
Vossler, A., Havard, C., Pike, G., Barker, M.J. and Raabe, B. eds., 2017. Mad Or Bad?: A
Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology. Sage.
Ward, T., 2014. The explanation of sexual offending: From single factor theories to integrative
pluralism. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 20(2), pp.130-141.