The Sexual Aggressor [antikvár]

Preface According to all available published statistics, there is currently an epidemic of sexual assaults throughout all age groups. Health care providers, in physical medicine as well as in the mental health services, admit that these represent only a minor proportion of the actual number of such attacks. The stigma attached to being a victim or a revealed aggressor tends to restrict accurate records. The increase in cases of sexual aggression over the past decade has alerted professionals to the need for better preparation of those dealing on a face-to-face basis with such aggressors, whether they appear as clients to a private practitioner or as members of a correctional institution. Aggression and its targets demand the skills and insights that can be provided by trained professionals in the health care services. In order to have a cooperative exchange of information among these professionals, whose roles are segmented by social considerations and professional barriers, a unified source of current techniques dealing with sexual aggression is required. This book is designed to provide for such a need. It contains practical contributions by professionals in various concerned divisions of the physical and mental health services. They emphasize the requisite skills and techniques that each division brings to a particular area of service. Because of the acknowledged complexity of interrelated social, physical, and emotional factors involved in treating sexual offenders, the manner in which individuals and agencies can effectively intervene forms the basis for this book. As such, it represents a selective survey of contemporary management techniques and professional issues facing the therapist and investigator dealing with sexually aggressive clients. Although the book is primarily oriented toward the working professional in the mental health services, it should also be informative to those currently in training in discipUnes associated with this area. Where does a mental health provider search for literature on this subject when confronted with a sex offender as a client? There has been a lack of practical literature detailing how to proceed with such clients. Considering the urgency of the problem, the editors believe that this book, written by those engaged in providing services to sexual aggressors or in conducting related research, will be of great value. Much progress has been made since a decade ago when it was first suggested that the study of rape could be divided into four categories: motives, method of approach, coercion (or seduction), and past experiential history of the offender. As a consequence, the development of consistent analysis and creative therapeutic programs measured to fit particular personality profiles and offenses has been very productive.