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Assessment |
Psychophysiological Assessment
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While assessing and treating sex offenders is
not an exact science, it is necessary to provide services
which are as comprehensive and competent as possible.
Psychophysiological assessment can add a significant dimension
to sex offender assessment, to treatment progress measurement
and to treatment objectives refinement. Knowing an
offender’s arousal profile can raise questions about the
offender's truthfulness and can help counter denial. It can
also help in developing reoffense prevention plans.
Alpha’s laboratory can perform assessments
for other treatment providers lacking this equipment.
Examinations can be scheduled for weekdays, evenings and
Saturdays.
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Psychophysiological Assessment tools available
through
Alpha include:
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Plethysmograph (PPG) |
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Abel Assessment for
Sexual Interest™ |
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Psychophysiological
Detection of Deception (PDD) |
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Plethysmography
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Plethysmography is a way of
measuring erectile response to various sexual stimuli. When used
as a part of a psychophysiological assessment, it can help
provide a profile of a client’s sexual interests or
preferences.
In doing an assessment, the subject and the
operator are in separate rooms. The subject places an expandable
strain gauge on his penis and is shown sexually explicit
stimuli. These stimuli are in the form of slides, videotapes,
and audiotapes. The stimuli are designed to vary across age and
gender categories as well as to types of aggression.
Comparisons are drawn regarding the relative strength or
intensity of arousal to different age ranges, gender, and
aggression. The individual’s subjective opinion of how aroused
he is to the stimuli is also obtained and compared to the
measured arousal.
The plethysmograph has been shown to measure
sexual preferences quite accurately for pedophiles, rapists,
fetishists, and persons of differing sexual orientations.
It is an “objective” physiological measure which has
criterion-related validity. Of course, like any information, the
results must be interpreted carefully and only applied within
the context of the data from all other sources. In no case
should the results be used without collateral information or as
the sole determinant of decision-making.
The plethysmograph is not a “lie detector”
and cannot be used to prove that a client acted out a particular
behavior nor can the results be used to predict the probability
of future offending. It is, however, a tool to help clarify an
individual's sexual arousal patterns and, as such, can
be a vital tool in the overall assessment and treatment of sex
offenders.
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