Alexis has gone through a lot of emotional turmoil caused by Anthony’s deviant sexual behavior. The young girl is clearly a victim of pedophile. The emotional changes that are taking place reflect that of a pedophilia victim. Pedophile victims are those who survive actions of people with paraphilia. Pedophile victims go through periods of sexual, physical, and severe emotional abuse that leaves them with wounds that are more severe than physical injury. Anthony inflicted abuse on Alexis that has left her in a situation that she has to struggle to be happy, cope, and lead a happy life. In addition to this being a pedophile case, it is also incestuous as Anthony is related to Emily and Alexis. Incestuous pedophile cases are much severe, and victims may suppress details of sexual molestation for several reasons.
Alexis, just like other pedophile victims, can benefit from medical and therapeutic interventions. Therapy stands as a proven intervention that can help Alexis understand, integrate, express, and let go of all the aching as well as confusion that has stemmed from the abusive experiences. Alexis' case involves so many negative feelings and therapy will help her understand that the hardness in coping, bad memories, anxiety, and any other remnant of the incidences she has gone through can be solved through time by use of therapy (Ramchandani and Jones 50). Any form of abuse results in negative impacts that cut across various spheres of life including school and social interaction. Survivors can hardly maintain good relationships, and those who go through such acts develop psychological issues such as anxiety, posttraumatic stress, depression, panic, fears, and panic. Psychotherapy that considers these problems will help Alexis lead a more fulfilling life (Trask, Walsh, and DiLillo 7).
Several types of therapy that can aid child sexual abuse victims get their normal lives back. Psychological therapies can either be individualized or administered in groups. Individualized treatments have high levels of effectiveness in terms of helping patients regain functionality and purpose. Psychiatrists posit that all therapy measures have considerable effectiveness including those that have specific objectives. On the other hand, Townsend (536) suggest that group treatments where several victims of child sexual abuse are present come together result in better outcomes. Factors such as being equal and treating all victims of abuse simultaneously play huge roles in the effectiveness of group therapies. Researchers as well as clinicians working in institutions that employ group therapies as their primary intervention anticipate its increased application in the future (Trask, Walsh, and DiLillo 7). Taken together, research results and other findings show that group interventions for child abuse stands as the best practical therapy or treatment modality that health workers and service providers should consider.
Anthony, just like Alexis, can benefit from treatment modalities modeled for paraphilias. Treatment modalities for pedophiles can be biological, psychoanalytical therapy, or behavior therapy. Biological treatment for Anthony will focus on decreasing androgens or blocking them altogether. The best anti-androgenic drugs that can assist cases like this are progestin derivatives that bar the synthesis of testosterone or the receptors for androgen.
However, these drugs do not alter sexual drive’s direction toward mature and appropriate adult parties. Instead, the drugs decrease an offender’s libido breaking the pattern that causes compulsive deviant behavior behind sexual abuse. Unfortunately, the drugs cannot be the sole source of aid to pedophiles and doctors should administer in conjunction with group or individual psychotherapy. Anthony can also benefit from psychoanalytical approaches are also popular with managing paraphilias. This mode of therapy helps clients highlight unresolved traumas and conflicts from early stages in life. The intervention focuses on assisting individuals resolve issues that might have emanated from their childhood such as abuse preventing them from having appropriate sexual interactions. With time, a client solves the issues and does not experience paraphilic fantasies (Townsend 537). Anthony’s case might have been due to sexual molestation in his childhood, as he claims. This intervention will therefore assist him greatly.
Comparing the interventions for child victims and adult offenders highlights several challenges. Children who have gone through abuse might not be willing to disclose information regarding the events that have taken place. This may lead to the issues becoming latent and then causing problems in later stages of life. On the other hand, adult cases are even harder, especially if the offenders do not admit that they had unresolved conflicts in the past. Aggravated pedophiles cases may require behavior therapies, which make use aversion techniques to modify habits to desirable ones. Things taught through behavior therapy include cognitive restructuring and other skills that may help individuals change maladaptive beliefs. Another huge challenge that is clouding the management of victims and clients is dropping out. Therapies cannot realize their full potential if clients drop out. In addition to that, patients have to part with huge sums of money, as treatment costs are dear (Studer and Aylwin 774). Emily should be patient with both Alexis and Anthony as they go through therapy. She also has to invest in pharmacological options to suppress the abusive behaviors in Anthony. Approaching these issues from a positive angle will lead to positive outcomes.
Works cited
Ramchandani, Paul, and David P. H. Jones. “Treating Psychological Symptoms in Sexually Abused Children From Research Findings to Service Provision.” The British Journal of Psychiatry 183.6 (2003): 484–490. bjp.rcpsych.org. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
Studer, Lea H, and A Scott Aylwin. “Pedophilia: The Problem with Diagnosis and Limitations of CBT in Treatment.” Medical hypotheses 67.4 (2006): 774–781. NCBI PubMed. Web.
Townsend, Mary C. Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing: Concepts of Care in Evidence-Based Practice. F.A. Davis, 2011. Print.
Trask, Emily V., Kate Walsh, and David DiLillo. “Treatment Effects for Common Outcomes of Child Sexual Abuse: A Current Meta-Analysis.” Aggression and violent behavior 16.1 (2011): 6–19. PubMed Central. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
