This issue of the Journal ofAddictions & Offender Counseling (JAOC) is focused on the general problem of aberrant sexual activity, a problem that clients of our readership commonly experience, sometimes as perpetrator, at other times as victim.
The frequency of reports of sexual abuse of children is alarming, and some investigators have attempted to find ways to prevent its occurrence. In this issue of JAOC, one article concentrates on the risk factors that affect the outcome of treatment of adolescent male sex offenders. These offenders are perpetrators of one third to one half of the child sexual abuse cases that are committed annually. The authors of this article present the literature on the subject, and in so doing, describe the relevant risk factors, all of which are related to psychiatric, criminal, and substance abuse histories of offending adolescents and their families.
Writing from the perspective of an educator in a state-operated "development center" for adolescent offenders, an English teacher describes her success in working with boys and young men who have committed, among other crimes, sex offenses. What the author has to say about the effectiveness of using William Glasser's philosophy of counseling, as presented in his 1998 work Choice Theory, in an educational setting may be useful for offender counselors. Furthermore, this article illustrates the pivotal role helpers' attitudes play in successful interactions with youthful offenders.
Another article in this issue of JAOC addresses the problem of research validity of studies in which investigators interview sex offenders. Socially desirable responses may be the outcome of such interviews in which the attitudes of sex offenders toward victims are examined. To address the problem with research validity, the authors of the article in this issue conducted a study wherein functions of Internet message boards frequented by individuals with pedophilic interests in teen or preteen males were examined. The authors discuss implications for treatment.
The use of the Internet to exchange child pornography is only one of the uses of the Internet addressed in the article that discusses the implications for gay men of addiction to Internet sex. Much of the activity described in the article is not illegal; however, the authors describe the damaging effects of compulsive sexual activity via the Internet.
Finally, dream work is described as a treatment modality for adults who have experienced life trauma, particularly sexual abuse, as children and who subsequently became addicted to alcohol.
I hope that this issue of JAOC will be useful to counselors who are searching for ways to help clients who are engaged in thoughts and behaviors related to destructive sexual activity or who have been the victims of sexual abuse. Your comments are welcome.