Common Co-Occurring Disorders

Two of the scales are the Molester Comparison, and Rapist Comparison scales (Nichols & Molinder Assessments, Inc. 2010). These scales compare the current results against the scores of known child molesters and rapists, to identify any potentially alarming similarities (Nichols & Molinder Assessments, Inc., 2010). The Psychosexual Scales on the MSI-II assess for various areas such as emotional needs, social perceptions, and cognitive distortions. Additionally, the test attempts to quantify the existence of diagnoses or mental health traits consistent with conduct disorder, sociopathy, and substance abuse. (Nichols & Molinder Assessments, Inc., 2010). The test also assesses for paraphiliac interest in child molestation, rape, exhibitionism, voyeurism, and electronic means of sexual harassment or sexual behavior such as pornography, sex chats, or sexually explicit phone calls (Nichols & Molinder Assessments, Inc., 2010). The MSI-II also attempts to quantify a given offenders use of justifications for their offense, the level of accountability an offender takes for their sexually abusive behaviors, and the level of planning they are able to recognize as it relates to their planning of their offense (Nichols &

Alcohol impairs a person’s judgement and can increase aggressive behaviors (it does most of the time). Alcohol related crime/violence rates are rising very quickly throughout the country. There are two million incarcerated men and women in the United States, and 37% of those people admit to drinking before being arrested. When it comes to rape and sexual assault, 90% of cases involve the drinking of alcohol. Almost 30% of inmates reported being under the influence of alcohol or drugs when committing murder. Almost 3 million violent crimes happen a year in which alcohol is involved. In addition, 95% of all violent crimes reported at American colleges involve alcohol. It has been proven that binge drinking or prolonged drinking can lead to acts that are more violent and that can put other people around the drinker in serious danger. Substance abuse plays a huge role in these violent crimes. The more a person drinks the less they can control their actions and how violent they become.

Co-occurring disorders can be difficult to treat due to the complexity of symptoms. Both the mental health and substance abuse disorders have biological, psychological, and social components assessed throughout the treatment process. Co-occurring disorder individuals battle to maintain their sobriety as they need to find services for both mental health and support groups catering to their unique needs.

When a counselor has a new client they are working with, the client has to be assessed. When being assessed the counselor has to determine what issues the client may have. Through being assessed, the counselor may come to realize the client has more than one issue which is called co-occurring disorders. At this point the client will have to be treated for more than one disorder to effectively overcome the problems they are facing. Within this paper one will locate the prevalence of co-occurring disorders, mental health and substance abuse

techprogram/paper_40822.htm)." Some other effects that can happen from drinking is that students get in trouble with police, vandalism, get injured, or even worse, death. Over 1,400 students are killed annually because of their alcohol use, according to researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health. This survey also claims that over 600,000 students a year are assaulted by other students who have been drinking. Additionally, over 70,000 are the victims of sex assaults or date rapes in similar circumstances. These are very disturbing figures. Thirty-one percent of college students met criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and 6 percent for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence in the past 12 months, according to questionnaire-based self-reports about their drinking. Drinking heavily seems to bring out more difficulties in a person's life and can only continue the same way as an adult. One starts to rely on alcohol to solve problems and may continue throughout their life because their body becomes dependent on alcohol to make them feel good again.

As mentioned previously, there is an overlap between the personality clusters. The most significant comorbidity occurrences with ASPD include paranoid personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (Out of the Fog, 2015) See figure 4 (Appendix C). Furthermore, additional studies are suggesting that 67% of those diagnosed (DSM-IV) with a personality disorder also met the criteria for at least one other mental disorder. Antisocial personality disorder has often been found to coexist with anxiety disorders (52.4%), mood disorders (24.1%), impulse control disorders (23.2%), and substance abuse disorders (22.6%) (Out of the Fog, 2015). The common occurrences of comorbidity between the

Sex offenders tend to blend in to society virtually unnoticed until they offend or reoffend (Polizzi, MacKenzie, & Hickman, 1999). Currently, there is a large group of mental health professionals representing a variety of disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry clinical social work, counseling, and medicine, that continue to believe in the potential efficacy of treating sex offenders. Over the past decade, the sex offender treatment field has grown rapidly and the treatment of juvenile sex offenders is on the rise (Parks & Bard, 2006). The rationale for treating juvenile offenders is based on research which indicates that inappropriate sexual behavior patterns develop early and a failure to intervene and change behavior early often means that the offender will continue to escalate his/her inappropriate behavior, which could present an even greater danger to society (Ayland & West, 2006). Vivian-Bryne, (2004) suggests that professionals who treat adult sex offenders report that offenders who are incarcerated will eventually return to the community and therefore, therapeutic measures should be taken to reduce the likelihood that they will reoffend even if those measures have not conclusively been identified as effective. Sexual offenders may find therapy valuable because it can allow them to retrace their upbringing to help them identify and understand the roots of their

There has been much debate about why people commit sexual crimes. As far as to what causes people to become sex offenders, there is no real answer to this question. No single factor can fully interpret why someone commits a sexual offense, though it is believed that some combination of factors may combine to increase sexual deviancy dramatically. These factors include biological, circumstantial, environmental, and sociocultural aspects of the person, describing the development of abnormal sexual expression through the same mechanisms by which conventional sexuality is also learned (Terry and Tallon). There are a number of sub-theories which have been designed to explain the onset of sexual deviancy. However, because no one can pinpoint the dynamics of sexual deviancy, different theories have been developed to study and account for the development of sexual aggression and behavior. An explanation of the main theories is offered below:

When working with this specific population mental health professionals are often called on to evaluate and manage sex offender’s behavior. There are also times when individuals may be asked to give an opinion as to if the offender will repeat the behavior. Often times people that work with this population are referred to as (SOSs) Sex Offender Specialists. They have a specific group of diverse training and background. Some of these trainings incIude but are not limited to cognitive-behavioral, psychopharmacological, and therapeutic orientations.

-Mr. Martinez has a sex offense conviction for a non-contact sex offense. Offenders with paraphilic interests are at increased risk for sexual recidivism. For example, most individuals have little interest in exposing their genitals to strangers or stealing underwear. Offenders who engage in these types of behaviors are more likely to have problems conforming their sexual behavior to conventional standards than offenders who have no interest in paraphilic

Two Cases (Murat and Mucahit,2013), it concluded two adolescents who suffered in sexual fetishism. The most common fetish objects were female undergarments and shoes among those with sexual fetishism. Besides, conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), substance abuse, and mood disorder and social anxiety disorder (SAD) were the common comorbid psychiatric disorders. The prevalence was 43.3% among those sex offenders paraphiliacs with ADHD. Meanwhile, paraphilias resulted in several kinds of psychological disturbances, guilt, shame, depression, and impaired social and sexual relationships as examples. To manage those with sexual

Sexual assault affects many people not only in our community but worldwide. The sexual assault that goes unheard of most often is, date rape. Approximately 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 have been victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or also known as date rape (Hingson et al., 2005). (Date Rape Drugs: XTC, Rohypnol, Ketamine // Rev. James E. McDonald, C.S.C., Center for Student Well-Being // University of Notre Dame.) Many victims

Some argue, "the reality is that the overwhelming majority of offenders have a psychiatric illness, and to argue that sexual offenses are symptoms of some diagnostic category, only provides them with an excuse to minimize their responsibility for their own behavior." (Briggs 15). Others maintain that there are genetic and developmental factors which contribute to pedophilia being a disorder, although this theory has not yet been proven.

There are still quite a few debates and questions revolving around the correlation between alcohol and/or drug use and sexual aggression and sexual assault (Swartout & White, 2010). It has been shown that males in college exhibit higher levels of sexually aggressive behaviours. In a national survey conducted on college men, 25.1% of them, before the age of fourteen, said that they had

11. Remember that the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) “is a projective test in which a person is presented with a series of ambiguous pictures and composes a story. It is an “apperception” test because the person reports not what he or she sees but rather a narrative or imaginary interpretation” (Murray, 1938, p. 324). Measured by a self-report test, such as the Thematic Apperception Test. The results demonstrated significant differences. According to the American Journal of Forensic Psychology, adolescent male sex offenders demonstrate perceptual distortion of their environment through the use of denial as a defense mechanism. Personality characteristics varied in areas such as the internalized values and attitudes, their external expression, and inflated self-esteem. The results concluded that adolescent sexual offender is characterized as a unique individual, a result of a stunted developmental process. Some sex offenders have deviant fantasies and the strong desire to act on them. There have been instances where some sexual fantasies were actually carried out. Male and female juvenile sex offenders often exhibit behavior that is sexually abusive at a young age; some of their unfortunate and innocent victims tend to be male, but there number of victims increases just as often as the type. Juvenile sex offenders tend to lack social skills that are an important attributes of their offending, and low intelligence, but a history of sexual abuse in their family is common.