The DSM diagnostic criteria for pedophilia

Abstract

This paper contains the author's report on pedophilia, submitted on June 2, 2008, to the work group charged with revising the diagnoses concerning sexual and gender identity disorders for the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The author reviews the previously published criticisms and empirical research concerning the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia and presents criticism and relevant research of his own. The review shows that the DSM diagnostic criteria for pedophilia have repeatedly been criticized as unsatisfactory on logical or conceptual grounds, and that published empirical studies on the reliability and validity of these criteria have produced ambiguous results. It therefore seems that the current (i.e., DSM-IV-TR) diagnostic criteria need to be examined with an openness to major changes in the DSM-V. © 2009 American Psychiatric Association.