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The prevalence of mental disorders among incarcerated adult men convicted of child sexual exploitation material offences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2023

Alexander Seiser Open the ORCID record for Alexander Seiser [Opens in a new window] ,
Reinhard Eher ,
Daniel Turner  and
Martin Rettenberger
Alexander Seiser*
Affiliation:
Directorate General for the Prison Service and Preventive Detention, Federal Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Austria, Vienna, Austria
Reinhard Eher
Affiliation:
Federal Evaluation Centre for Violent and Sexual Offenders (FECVSO), Federal Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Austria, Vienna, Austria
Daniel Turner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Martin Rettenberger
Affiliation:
Centre for Criminology (Kriminologische Zentralstelle – KrimZ), Wiesbaden, Germany
*
Corresponding author: Alexander Seise; Emails: alexander.seiser@bmj.gv.at; alexander.h.seiser@gmail.com
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Abstract

Objective

Despite the growing body of research on individuals convicted of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM), relatively little is known about the prevalence of mental disorders in this population. The aim of the present study was to describe the prevalence of mental disorders among individuals convicted of CSEM offenses.

Methods

This cross-sectional study examined data from 66 individuals serving a sentence for CSEM offenses in the Austrian prison system who underwent a clinical assessment between 2002 and 2020. Diagnoses were based on the German version of the Structured Clinical Interview for Axis I and Axis II disorders.

Results

In the total sample, n = 53 individuals (80.3%) were diagnosed with a mental disorder. Twenty-seven individuals (40.9%) had an Axis I disorder and n = 47 (71.2%) had an Axis II disorder. More than two-thirds of the sample, n = 47 (71.2%), had a personality disorder diagnosis, with cluster B personality disorders being the most frequent mental disorders. More than half of the sample, n = 43 (65.2%), had a diagnosis of pedophilic disorder, of which n = 9 (13.6%) were of the exclusive type. Twenty-eight persons (42.4%) showed evidence of a hypersexual disorder.

Conclusions

In line with previous research, the present sample of convicted CSEM offenders showed a comparatively high prevalence of personality disorders and paraphilic disorders, particularly pedophilic disorders. Additionally, the rate of hypersexual disorder symptoms was considerably high. These findings should be considered for the development of successful risk management strategies for this population.

Keywords

Child sexual exploitation material (CSEM)CSEM-offenderprevalence of mental disorderspedophilic disorderspersonality disorders
Type
Original Research
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 28 , Issue 6 , December 2023 , pp. 719 - 725
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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