Ephebophilia: symptoms, causes and treatment of this paraphilia

What is ephebophilia and does it always require psychological treatment? Let's take a look at it.

Sexuality is an important part of our being; our way of experiencing it is diverse and the interests and objects of desire we may have can be profoundly varied.

However, some people develop a fixation or experience intense fantasies with unusual, unconventional or even criminal objects of desire, which generate deep dissatisfaction or suffering for the sufferers or their objects of desire. One of these cases is that of ephebophilia, the sexual attraction to adolescents under the age of 18.one of these cases is that of ephebophilia, the sexual attraction to underage adolescents, which we are going to talk about in this article.

The ephebophilia as a paraphilia.

It receives the name of ephebophilia or hebephilia the preferential sexual desire towards underage, pubertal or post-pubertal youths.. It is a paraphilia or paraphilic disorder, which is characterized by the appearance of intense sexual fantasies in which the main object of desire is focused on non-human beings, objects, non-consenting subjects or without capacity to consent or involves the existence of harm and suffering for oneself or others.

These fantasies are presented in an intense way for a minimum of six months and generate dysfunctionality and alteration in the daily life of the subject, occupying a part of his or her time.occupying a part of his or her time and may or may not generate discomfort to the person.

The fantasy may remain imaginative or may push the subject to try to practice them, and usually generates an exclusive sexual interest (although the latter is not essential) towards the paraphilic stimulus.

Symptoms

In the case of ephebophilia, as we have seen, we find that the object of sexual desire that forms part of the fantasies of those who suffer from this paraphilia are minors who have already entered puberty.

In this sense, the sexual interest may appear between 11 (more typically from 15) and 18 years of age, and the other subject must already be an adult with an age difference of at least 5 years. Also, the attraction can appear towards people of the opposite sex as well as the same sex.

Technically this type of sexual interest could be considered a type of pedophilia, since in that case the subject of desire of the ephebophile is still a minor. However, there is one characteristic in which they differ: in the case of the ephebophile the subject already has sexual characteristics similar to those of an adult subject.The paraphiliac may be a child who is past puberty or has already passed it, while in classical pedophilia the interest is in prepubertal subjects (without sexual attributes).

In general, paraphilias may involve an exclusive or almost exclusive sexual attraction, although depending on the case it is also possible to maintain functional relationships with fully adult subjects. Ephebophilia is considered a paraphilia, especially if the attraction is only to postpubertal minors in a fixed manner.. In other contexts, environments and cultures, however, it is considered a normal sexual response, because the object of desire has adult or quasi-adult sexual characteristics.

However, characteristics such as the search for environments where these types of minors abound for the mere fact of being close to an object of desire, grooming or sadistic or predatory characteristics towards this sector of the population may be telling us about a paraphilic type of problem.

Is it a criminal paraphilia?

Some paraphilias may not be criminal, excessively disabling or have an impact beyond the merely sexual, but in other cases, as in the present case, the implementation of the fantasies themselves may lead to the commission of the crime. can lead to the commission of a crimeIn other cases, as in this case, ephebophilia could be considered pedophilia or statutory rape, depending on the age and circumstances surrounding consent.

In Spain and at present, the minimum age of sexual consent is 16 years of age.. However, even if consent is given, there must be conditions of equality: if there is abuse of authority or the adult seduces the minor through manipulation, we are talking about a case of statutory rape, a type of sexual abuse. If this is not the case and provided that the minor is over sixteen years of age, we would not be dealing with an interaction constituting a crime.

Causes

The causes of ephebophilia are not entirely clear, as is the case with other paraphilias. There is also debate as to whether or not it should be considered a paraphilia in those cases in which the attraction is not exclusive and does not generate an alteration in the life of the subject or the object of desire.

Among some existing hypotheses we could consider the existence of a deficit of coping skills, social skills or a high level of insecurity or lack of self-esteem.. In this sense, the ephebophile may consider himself incapable of relating to people of his own age, which may lead him to feel more comfortable in the company of prepubescents.

It is also possible that there is a desire for dominance and power with someone who, although physically similar to an adult, is generally more innocent and has less life experience, which implies that the ephebophile has a position of superiority, and the adult may already have resources whereas the adolescent is less likely to possess them, so that the adult may see himself as the provider and protector of his object of desire.

Another explanation could also be found in learning by modeling or even by parental modelsA subject may learn that adolescent subjects are sexually desirable from what the environment teaches him. In addition, masturbatory conditioning may have occurred if sexual arousal or orgasm has been associated with the adolescent image.

Finally, it should be taken into account that the fact that the physical appearance may already be practically that of an adult may lead to a certain attraction that is not necessarily pathological, although it should be noted that their level of development, both physical and especially psychological, does not correspond to that of an adult subject.

Treatment

Sexual attraction to adolescents may not require treatment, but in those cases in which the attraction is in those cases in which the attraction is exclusive and supposes a clinically significant discomfort, or involves statutory rape.or involves statutory rape, it is possible to try various procedures.

In this case, the first step should be to find out what implications the adolescent figure has for the subject and what elements of the adolescent are relevant to generate the arousal. Likewise, in case of discomfort, it will also be necessary to discuss where the discomfort comes from and the affectation that the subject's fantasies generate in his or her daily life.

After this, we proceed to to develop positive emotional links with non-paraphilic situations, in order to desensitize the to proceed to desensitize the paraphilic stimulus with procedures such as masturbatory reconditioning or breaking the chain of actions that lead to arousal with the minor.

Sometimes Acceptance and Commitment Therapy may also be useful, especially in cases that do not have paraphilic characteristics and in which there is a normative sexual attraction.

Bibliographical references:

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Fifth edition. DSM-V. Masson, Barcelona.