1. Define gender identity and sexual orientation, paying particular attention to the differences between the two. Gender identity is a person’s own understanding or perception of their gender. Sexual orientation refers to a person’s sexual or romantic preference or pattern. Gender identity is originated by the way a person feels about themselves verses sexual orientation which refers to a person’s romantic feelings about the same or other genders.
A person who has clinically male genitalia may not feel they identify as male but instead female so their gender identity is female whereas their sexual orientation might consist of a relationship with a male. 2. Discuss hypotheses and theories regarding the development and maintenance of the paraphilia. There are a few theories on the etiology of paraphilia. From a neurobiological standpoint, there is strong evidence that male hormones play a roll, as the majority of people with paraphilia are male.
Androgens or male hormones regulate sexual desire so in many ways this seems like a possibility however there is no conclusive evidence to support it. Psychodynamic viewpoints center around repressed fears and memories resulting in defensive behavior that is symptomatic of paraphilia. This theory suggests that a person may not be interested in conventional romantic ideology because they are stuck in a pregentital psychosexual phase.
For example, a person may be experiencing castration anxiety making them feel overwhelmed with being able to have sexual interaction with a woman so they instead gain sexual pleasure from interactions that don’t involve a woman’s presence like a fetish, voyeurism, or pedophilia. Although some of these ideas have been utilized to formulate other theories there is little evidence of their potency in causing paraphilia. Psychological factors such as conditioning, cognition, and relationship histories have been known to play a role in paraphilia development.
For example, a person may masturbate to a man in a cowboy hat frequently, conditioning her brain to receive sexual pleasure to be associated with cowboy hats. From an operant conditioning understanding poor social skills or reinforcement of atypical sexual behavior from a parent or relative can result in paraphilia. A person who is an exhibitionist may find conventional sex in their relationship to be boring and therefor seek outside sexually explicit encounters, like flashing, to ease a need reinforced during childhood.
Many people with paraphilia express they have had physical or sexual abuse as a child or that they had unhealthy parent child relationships. This information provides an understanding to possible predispositions to paraphilia. Triggers for these people can include negative affect or alcohol. People may also have cognitive distortions that lead to paraphilia type behavior. A voyeur may be observing a sexual encounter through a window in which the curtains are open and believe that the persons in the room have left them open because they want to be watched.
Distorted thinking may also be justified through denial, minimization, debasing, deflection, or misattribution. A person who is caught peeping may say something like “It’s not like I raped anyone” to justify their actions. Maintenance of paraphilia can be difficult in that sex offenders tend to lack motivation to change their behavior. They may think their problem is not severe or have confidence that they cannot be helped. Cognitive behavioral treatment historically may have involved shocking the person when they were having sexual attraction towards an inanimate object.
Other therapies consist of having a person pleasure themselves about the topic until it has an aversive affect. Full comprehensive programs may also include social skills training. Biological maintenance may include medications that affect SSRI output and/or hormone treatment along with psychological treatment methods. There is also Megan’s Law created to protect the public. This law prohibits sexual offenders from returning to where they previously committed the sexual crime and allows for the public to have access to address information of convicted offenders.
3. Discuss in some detail and analyze the motivations underlying the act of rape. Some motives that underlie the act of rape include hostility towards women, sexual taste towards coercive behaviors, sexual difficulties, high sexual drive, difficulty reading social cues, and acceptance of interpersonal violence from society. These motivations could possibly be gathered into a few concepts, one of which is violence and perception of women in society. A society that has a fixation with violence or coerciveness during a sexual interaction as socially acceptable increases the chance of women being sexually assaulted.
In the United States is considered socially acceptable. Evidence that men who watch women reach orgasm during a violent sexual scene tend to be more violent in their own sexual behavior shows us this is true. These pornographic videos are being made and are widely distributed only reinfor orcing acceptance of interpersonal violence from society. The correlation between sexual perpetrators and other motivations such as high sex drive, sexual difficulties, and difficulty reading social ques also bleeds into the acceptance of the behavior in our society.
A person who has a high sex drive may be more inclined to force sex when they are being denied, if they are having anxieties over sexual functioning, or if they are poor at understanding social language, however, it seems that their reaction to their motivation may not be the direct cause as many people suffer similar difficulty and do not rape. It would be advantageous to begin to understand why the coping mechanism or reaction to a need is being resolved with rape. This may lead us directly back to a cultural acceptance and understanding of the treatment of women. 4. Define and describe ADHD, including the three types of ADHD.
What is the prognosis for children suffering from ADHD? ADHD can be defined briefly as an inability to pay attention to a task for an appropriate amount of time, so much so that it has a negative impact on the child or adult experiencing the deficit. There are three types; predominately inattentive type, predominately hyperactive impulsive type, and combined type. Predominately inattentive children have a difficult time paying attention, predominately hyperactive children have more impulse control difficulties, and combined is a child who presents both symptomatic behaviors.
A person with ADHD may find it difficult to express emotions and can have comorbid internalization type disorders. Although it was once believed that children “grew out” of ADHD behaviors, more recent evidence shows that it can be carried into or discovered during adulthood as well. Children suffering from ADHD can achieve a good quality of life through the use of both medication and parental guidance. School systems are continually being educated on the needs of children with this disorder as well so there continues to be a lot of promise in positively functioning children with this disorder. . Discuss the etiology of conduct disorder and approaches to treatment. The etiology of conduct disorder can be a combination of different factors. There is a likelihood that genetics play a factor. Research shows a strong hereditary connection in aggressive tendencies however does not show as great a connection with other types of deviant behavior. Certain neurobiological factors can also contribute to conduct disorder. This might include the impact of poor verbal skills, memory problems, or difficulty with executive functions such as selfcontrol, planning, and problem solving.
An important etiological factor is psychological impact. Understanding and acquiring a moral compass is developmentally important. If a child is not conditioned to understand the difference between right and wrong or the ability to understand the way their actions can negatively affect others they may acquire symptomatic behavior associated with conduct disorder. Peer influence can also take a part in the development; if a child is surrounded by aggressive peers they too may become aggressive.
Sociological factors such as poverty or urban living also contribute to the behaviors exhibited in children with this disorder. This may be connected to the lack of parental supervision in lower SES families as they are often working more than one job or are a single parent. Treatment of conduct disorder involves a great deal of parental education and training or PMT (parental management training). It involves the positive reinforcement of good social interactions and loss of privileges for behaviors that may be aggressive or antisocial. A very effective treatment is multisystematic treatment.
This involves providing services throughout the community to bolster positive behaviors amongst peer groups. This helps the child to have a similar structure in all the systems they are a part of in the community as well as within their home. Another successful treatment method is cognitive therapy, generally in the form of coping skills and thoughtful ways to control anger. 6. Describe treatment procedures for childhood autism, with particular attention to behavioral approaches. Treatment for children with autism is best if both medication and psychological efforts are applied.
Behavioral treatment has ultimately been shown to be promising if it encompasses the majority of the child’s waking hours. Essentially clinical treatment is taught to the parents of the child and when executed at home and within treatment centers it can have a very positive effect. Treatment consists of focusing on the natural motivations of the child instead of trying to force the child to conform to social expectation. For example, a child who pinches his or her skins for sensory stimulation may instead carry a ball they can squeeze in their pocket.
Instead of extinguishing the behavior it is instead acknowledged and displaced into a different behavior that is safer for them. Other treatments involve medications that affect the level of serotonin produced as research has shown a higher level in people diagnosed with autism. Progress has also been shown opioid treatments in which the person with autism shows evidence of more positive social interactions. Although medication has been shown to be effective, behavioral treatment has proven to provide the best results.
