Treatment of incest and pedophilic offenders: A pilot study

Twenty‐nine incest and 22 heterosexual pedophilic offenders, under sentence, participated in a study of therapeutic outcome. Results showed the two groups were remarkably similar in their pretreatment level of psychosocial functioning. However, pedophiles had a significantly higher recidivism rate than incestuous men. Incest offenders, on the whole, changed most relative to single or married pedophiles. Pedophiles appeared more treatment resistant in dealing with their disturbed family relations, verbal hostility, irritability, and feelings of anger that, in part, underlie their sexual anomaly. At follow‐up 36 months later, only 2 incest and 4 pedophilic men had recidivated. The discussion links these findings with earlier research and proposes a multimodal, group‐oriented approach to treating sex offenders.