Evidence-Based Practice in the Evaluation and Treatment of Sexual Offenders

Abstract

This editorial addresses evidence based medical practice in forensic psychiatry and particularly in the field of paraphilia. John M. Bradford is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University. He is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Ottawa where he was a founder of the Royal Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research. He is a Founder of Forensic Psychiatry, granted by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Abdullah H Alqahtani is an Assistant Professor and Consultant Psychiatrist at King Fahd University Hospital, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. He is currently completing a clinical fellowship in forensic psychiatry at McMaster University - St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. Andrew T. Olagunju is an academic psychiatrist with a Senior Lecturer position at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria. He is also completing a clinical fellowship at McMaster University - St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.

Community intervention programs for sex offenders: A systematic review

“…Particularly, psychological treatment for sexual offender has been widely studied, and the recidivism of sex offenders is one of the main results when evaluating its effectiveness ( 5 ). Pharmacological treatments (such as antidepressant medication therapy and testosterone lowering medications) have been developed using the principle of intervention of the reduction of total and free testosterone in the endocrine system, significantly reducing sexual drive and consequently sexual behavior, including deviant sexual behavior ( 24 ). Curiously, the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) proposed that pharmacological interventions should always be part of a more comprehensive treatment plan (e.g., CBT), since the combination of pharmacological and behavioral treatment coupled with close legal supervision appears to reduce the risk of repeated offense ( 5 ).…”

Absconsion in forensic psychiatric services: a systematic review of literature

“…Forensic psychiatric services are designed to provide care to patients with mental illnesses at the interface of the criminal justice system 9 . While recovery and community reintegration of patients are important goals of forensic mental health services, safeguarding the public from harm posed by forensic patients remains a core objective of forensic psychiatry 9–13 . Implicitly, forensic psychiatric services are expected to maintain a “secure” therapeutic milieu for patients on admission or out-patients with community access, and be “absconsion-proof” while mitigating the risk posed by such patients.…”