Offenders, shame awareness etc.

• Affects as impediments to affects by Rich Kuyper, 1/6/97
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    • DV Offenders, Victims, etc. by Margaret Blakely, 1/12/97
      
      

Could a good understanding of ones’ own shame mechanisms help even a pedophile? Yes, I believe it could--but I expect the more critical question, and one by several degrees more difficult to answer, is, Could it help enough? Measuring treatment effectiveness with any offender or population of offenders (sexual, DV etc.) is a problematic undertaking. How do we measure success? If we can help a client reduce the frequency of her panic attacks from twice weekly to once or twice annually, we might call that ‘successful’ treatment. If a DV (or sex offender) with a history of abuse on a weekly basis remains violence free throughout nine months of treatment and perhaps another year beyond that and then re-offends, is that a treatment failure? Success? Partial success? So...assuming your client IS a pedophile (Is there some evidence of his children or other children having been assaulted? Why would the courts grant him custody in the face of facts pointing in the direction of his being a pedophile?) I expect what you’d really like to know is whether an understanding of one’s own shame mechanisms can help enough to completely put and end to the offensive behavior. How could we tell? If we do a controlled study, how long would we have to follow the cohorts? Etc. etc. There you have it, Margaret! I’ve been a big help, haven’t I ? :-)

• Shame Awareness by Margaret Blakely, 1/16/97
  • Question from a Unicorn by Elizabeth Ferrari, 1/19/99