Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979
Psychologist, Social Worker, Counselor, & MFT!!

Section 1
Track #1 - The Addictive Experience

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Welcome to the Home Study Course sponsored by the Healthcare Training Institute, homestudycredit.com.  This course is regarding, Pedophiles on the Internet-  Treating Perpetrators and Victims

Our primary intent for this home study course is to provide quality education to foster your professional growth.  The Institute has provided quality education since 1979.
 
We appreciate that you have chosen us as a vehicle for you to earn your Continuing Education Credit.

The purpose of the course is to assist you in increasing your knowledge regarding how to treat patients, clients, etc. dealing with Internet Pedophilia.  As each case study is given, if the concepts seem to be applicable to your situation, I encourage you to turn your CD player off and make a few notes regarding the application of the principle to your setting.  However, these notes are for your purposes only and are not to be sent to the Institute.  Also each track is very content dense.  So feel free to replay the track to review the content either for your own purposes, or if you feel appropriate play the track in an individual or group session for client education.  Also permission is granted to reproduce this CD.  We encourage you to duplicate and give copies of this CD to colleagues, clients, etc. as you deem appropriate. We feel the information on our CD's is valuable.  Thus, we have an interest in distributing CD's in as many ways as possible, to benefit the greatest number of people, who have a need and are receptive to this practical information.

The questions in your Answer Booklet are sequential and deal with the section of content that preceded it.  For this reason, to facilitate the answering of each question, you might read the question from the Answer Booklet prior to listening to that CD track.  By knowing what the question is ahead of time, you will then know the content to listen for that contains the answer.  So just a hint, after you write down the answer to a question in your Answer Booklet, read on to the next question in order to give you a “heads up” to listen for the content that contains the answer to the next question.

Merely write the correct letter on the corresponding blank line in your answer booklet. Each answer is only used once. Keep in mind there is nothing tricky or hard about these questions.  They are merely intended to verify the playing of this CD.

For the purpose of brevity, most generally, I will use the term “therapists” or “mental health professional.”  However, don’t let these terms deter you from applying the concepts to your situations.  When you hear the word “therapists,” if your job title is social worker, psychologist, marriage and family therapist, mental health counselor, professional counselor, resident director, program assistant, etc. merely substitute the appropriate term that is the most meaningful to you. In short, don’t let my use of the term “therapists” cognitively set you off track from hearing the content because your job title is school counselor, for example.  I will also use the term “client” for the purposes of brevity.  However, if you deal with patients, residents, students, consumers, etc., transpose “client” for the term that is the most meaningful to you in your work setting. 

On this CD we will discuss such topics as: the addictive experience; developmental causes; core beliefs; co-addicts; providing a human face; understanding the internet pedophile; and defense strategies for parents

So  let’s get started

On this track, we will examine the phases that a pedophilic client will undergo during an addictive experience.  These stages include: preoccupation; ritualization; compulsive sexual behavior; and despair.

#1 Preoccupation
The first stage of the addictive experience is preoccupation.  Pedophiles become hostages of their own obsession.  Do you agree?  Their obsessions about child pornography or other sexual acts which involve children become intrusive on their daily activities.  Jim, age 34, stated, “I couldn’t get these images out of my head.  They invaded my life.  I would start work, but then, all of a sudden, I would get flashes of my nephew in my mind, doing things I wish I hadn’t thought of.  Personally, I’ve never enacted them out with him, but I will go to websites and try to instant message kids, just so I can flirt with the ideas.”  I stated to Jim, “Because of your obsession, every introduction and meeting passes through your sexually obsessive filter.  Normally, these obsessions begin to interfere with daily life, and other areas are affected.  Does that ever happen with you?”  Jim stated, “Yeah, I couldn’t concentrate on work, all I could think about were these images and how to make them come about.  I can’t sleep, so I spend most of my time on the internet.  Sometimes, when I’m chatting with people I know are adults, I’ll fantasize that they’re really young teens.”  Clients like Jim are addicted to sexual behavior, and, in the case of pedophiles, become addicted and preoccupied with the thought of sexual acts with children.  I stated to Jim, “I’d like you to think of this preoccupation as a warning sign that’s telling you to watch your steps.  When you begin to feel the obsession taking over, be mindful of it and of your behaviors.”  Think of your Jim.  Is he experiencing this sexual preoccupation?  How would you address his preoccupation?

#2 Ritualization
The second stage is ritualization.  In this stage, clients will revert to the same modus operandi or method which enhances their preoccupation and arousal.  Many pedophiles will use the same website and alias each time, even though it makes apprehension easier for others.  This ritualization helps the pedophile to focus his attention on the sexual act itself and can start the rush of excitement.  Norm, age 45, had narrowed his ritualization to phrases and words.  He stated, “I used the same lines over and over again:  ‘I understand,’ ‘oh my god, that sucks!’ or the most effective one, ‘you’re so smart’ or ‘special’ or ‘pretty.’  I didn’t have to think about an intelligent conversation, I just used the same ideas over and over again.” This preoccupation trance is as important as sexual contact or orgasm.  The intoxication of the whole experience is what the pedophile seeks in order to move through the cycle from despair to exhilaration.  The search and suspense absorb the pedophile’s concentration and energy.  Net surfing, flirtation, preparation, are all part of the mood alteration.  Think of your Norm.  Is he using rituals to heighten their sense of arousal?

#3 Compulsive Sexual Behavior
The third phase is compulsive sexual behavior.  This stage is marked by the actual carrying out of a behavior.  Whether it be visiting child pornographic websites or abusing a child physically, the pedophile client rarely has control over his behaviors.  In a way, he acts as an addict would, promising himself that he will stop but unable to.  Jim stated, “I always thought I could control this behavior.  I was laboring under the false perception that my body and mind were under my discipline.  This was obviously not so.  No matter how many times I tried, I could not break myself.  At my nephew’s birthday party, I promised myself never to jerk off to him again, but that lasted for about a week.”  I stated to Jim, “When you try to control your behavior by yourself, it will almost always fail.  However, you still cling to the hope that you will not have to admit you have a problem.  When you don’t succeed, yet another indictment of self-control and morality is added to ever-increasing shame.”  Think of your pedophilic client.  Is he compulsively indulging in his sexual fantasies?  Is this affecting his self-esteem?

#4 Despair
In addition to preoccupation, ritualization, and compulsive sexual behavior, the fourth and final stage is despair.  Despair becomes extremely potent when the sense of failure at not having lived up to resolutions to stop combines with hopelessness about ever being able to stop.  The amount of self-pity a pedophilic client experiences is related to how particularly degrading, humiliating, or risky the behavior was.  If the act violated personal values, the pedophile experiences self-hatred as well.  Phil, age 28, had been luring teenage girls to his house through the internet for some time.  He would convince them that he loved them and would arrange a private meeting.  After having gotten them there, he would provoke them into sexual acts.  Phil stated, “I was raised Christian, I know better than to do this!  I hate myself for this.  I betray these girls’ trust every time I approach them.  The only way I can make myself stop feeling so awful is to begin thinking about it all over again!  It never ends!”  Like in Phil’s case, each repetition builds upon the previous experiences and solidifies the reiterative pattern of the addiction.  Think of your Phil.  Is he experiencing self-hate because of his pedophilic behaviors?

Technique:  Reversing Core Beliefs
To help clients, like Jim, Norm, and Phil confront the despair they felt after one of their addictive experiences, I asked them to try “Reversing Core Beliefs.”  I have found that many clients live under the apprehension of certain unshakable beliefs.  Some of these include, “I am evil” and “No one can satisfy me”  I asked them to go home and to write out a list of core beliefs that they felt caused them the most pain and anguish.  Norm included on his list, “I need sex all the time” and “Other people think I’m disgusting.”  I then asked them to write contradicting statements on another card, addressing all the statements on the first list.  Norm included on this card, “I have other, deeper emotional needs that need to be fulfilled” and “I need to find that person who will love me as I am.”  Think of your Norm.  Would he or she benefit from “Reversing Core Beliefs”?  We will discuss Core Beliefs more thoroughly on a later track.

On this track, we examined the phases that a pedophile will undergo during an addictive experience.  These stages included: preoccupation; ritualization; compulsive sexual behavior; and despair.

On the next track, we will discuss dimensions of developmental causes.  These dimensions include:  self-image and relationships; needs; and sexuality.

QUESTION 1
What are the phases that a pedophile will undergo during an addictive experience? To select and enter your answer go to Answer Booklet