Insights from the therapeutic practises for child sexual abuse offenders explain the correlation between sexual offenders’ self-esteem and their sexual violence towards children. Earlier the treatment for sex offenders addressed the sexual deviance directly, focusing on the behavioural interventions and cognitive interventions. Later more comprehensive treatment programmes were developed to include interventions that targeted self-esteem…
First of all, child sexual abuse is an abusive act which may involve aggression or violence. Self-esteem has shown some correlation with aggressive behaviour in general. Conventional wisdom has regarded low self-esteem as an important cause of violence (Baumeister et al., 1996, p. 5). Different publications regarding physical abuse towards children has indicated that parental…
‘Maladaptive perfectionism’ is associated with unhealthy self-esteem. Normal perfectionists are reasonable and realistic about self-expectations and usually perform with a realization of their limitations and strengths. Maladaptive perfectionists demand of themselves a higher level of performance than it is usually possible to attain (Rice et al., 1998, pp. 304–305). Since their standards are high and…
The Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, commissioned by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Ireland, makes a serious comment about the long history of CSA prevalence among clerics. “There is a two thousand year history of Biblical, Papal and Holy See statements showing awareness of clerical child sex abuse” (Murphy et…
Diocesan priests experienced significantly more burnout than religious priests. It was the findings of Antony Raj and Karol E. Dean, two researchers in the field of pastoral psychology. They conducted a study among 50 diocesan priests and 51 religious priests randomly selected from two dioceses in South India. Similarly, in 2010 another study by Hans…
There are many socio-cultural elements that influence self-esteem. There is a ‘culturally defined world view ‘consisting of living standards created, transmitted, and maintained by a culture. The self-belief that how well one lives according to this standard becomes the central part of one’s self-esteem. Then an individual’s self-esteem has a tendency towards the validation of…
The word ‘anxiety’ derives from the Greek root meaning ‘to press tight’ or ‘to strangle’ (Ronald et al., 2008a, p. 50). It is defined as “apprehensive anticipation of future danger or misfortune accompanied by a feeling of worry, distress, and/or somatic symptoms of tension” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 818). It may be triggered either…
There are various theories that explain the mystery behind the evolution of an individual as a child sexual abuse offender. Biological theories propose that abnormalities in physiological factors like sex hormone levels or chromosome makeup make an impact on abusive sexual behaviour. In fact, sex hormones like androgens and testosterone regulate the sexuality and aggression…
Some blindly believe that child sexual abuse is a particular problem among priests. The data show that child sexual abuse prevalence is lower among priests than school teachers in the same time frame, and definitely lower than in the general population (Plante, 2010. para. 2). Biased supporters of the Church falsely believed that the child…
‘Maladaptive perfec- tionism’ is also associated with unhealthy self-esteem. Normal perfectionists are reasonable and realistic about self-expectations and usually perform with a realization of their limitations and strengths. Maladaptive per- fectionists demand of themselves a higher level of performance than it is usually possible to attain (Rice, Ashby, & Slaney, 1998, pp. 304-305). Since their…