Joseph Langen: Sexual Abuse — Trying to Make Sense of the Crime

By Dr. Joseph Langen
Daily News
October 6, 2012

http://thedailynewsonline.com/opinion/article_4040b68c-0eae-11e2-9c37-001a4bcf887a.html

Soon after I started work at a mental health center in the 1970s, probation referred a sexual abuse case to me. Not having experience with such cases, I asked in our staff meeting how I should go about treating such a person. No one knew. There had never been such a referral before.

With all that has since been written about the matter, it is hard to imagine our blissful ignorance back then. Now it is a rare day in which at least one person is not identified in the newspaper as a perpetrator of sexual abuse. Courts have been tough on them. Treatment programs have arisen in our communities as well as in prison. An ongoing scandal arose over priests and other clergy abusing children and adults and church officials hiding rather than addressing the problem.

So what accounts for such behavior? In my practice as a psychologist and through research for my novel, "The Pastor's Inferno," I discovered a number of motivations. One is anger about something in the abuser's life driving abusers' actions when not able to deal with his or her (usually his) anger directly. Another is power or control over the victim in abusers who tend to feel powerless and seek a victim to dominate. A third is sadism or sexual arousal from causing pain to others. These motivate abusers of adults, adolescents and children. About a third of convicted sex offenders were themselves abused as children, but two thirds were not.

At one time it was thought that all sex offenders were hopelessly addicted to a life of abusing more victims every chance they got. Research has suggested that treatment can lead to good results with child molesters and exhibitionists. However there do not seem to be any clear positive results from treatment of rapists.

Prevention programs help adults and children anticipate and ward off abuse although abusers are notoriously sly in finding ways to entice their victims. Although we have progressed on an individual level, what about influences hidden in our society? Many people in our society are quite angry, based on real or perceived affronts. A significant number of our citizens feel powerless and some of these end up as bullies to prove their strength. The third group consists of people who get sexual pleasure from hurting others. One theory suggests that such a pattern develops from childhood experiences. Yet there is no agreement on any one explanation.

It seems clear that some abusive individuals are capable of changing their behavior with significant help and learning to control their impulses. Still there are deep rooted tendencies in some abusers such as rapists for which we have yet to find any satisfactory treatment. The best we can do at this point is to protect ourselves from them.

Life Lab Lessons

— Understanding is the first step toward effective action.

— Approach this issue with your mind as well as your emotions.

— Know how to protect yourself.

— Take children's reports of abuse seriously.

— Don't leave the responsibility to act to someone else.