698 Paraphilic Disorders
Specify if:
Sexually attracted to males
Sexually attracted to females
Sexually attracted to both
Specify if:
Limited to incest
Diagnostic Features
The diagnostic criteria for pedophilic disorder are intended to apply both to individuals who
freely disclose this paraphilia and to individuals who deny any sexual attraction to prepuber-
tal children (generally age 13 years or younger) , despite substantial objective evidence to the
contrary. Examples of disclosing this paraphilia include candidly acknowledging an intense
sexual interest in children and indicating that sexual interest in children is greater than or equal
to sexual interest in physically mature individuals. If individuals also complain that their sex-
ual attractions or preferences for children are caus ing psychosocial difficulties, they may be di-
agnosed with pedophilic disorder. However, if they report an absence of feelings of guilt,
shame, or anxiety about these impulses and are not functionally limited by their paraphilic im-
pulses (according to self-repor t, objective assessment, or both), and their self-reported and le-
gally recorded histories indicate that they ha ve never acted on their impulses, then these
individuals have a pedophilic sexual interest but not pedophilic disorder.
Examples of individuals who deny attraction to children include individuals who are
known to have sexually approached multiple children on separate occasions but who deny
any urges or fantasies about sexual behavior involving children, and who may further claim
that the known episodes of physical contact were  all unintentional and nonsexual. Other indi-
viduals may acknowledge past episodes of sexual behavior involving children but deny any
significant or sustained sexual interest in children. Since these individuals may deny experi-
ences impulses or fantasies involving children, they may also deny feeling subjectively dis-
tressed. Such individuals may still be diagnosed with pedophilic disorder despite the absence