Rape and Paraphilic Coercive Disorder

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter was to discuss the epidemiology of rape with special focus on the construct of nonsadistic paraphilic serial rape known as paraphilic coercive disorder. We believe that there is sufficient theoretical, clinical, and scientific basis for the mental health and criminal field to recognize as paraphilic coercive disorder (PCD) as a legitimate diagnostic entity. As noted, PCD has a long and controversial history in the mental health community that dates back to the 1980s when the proposal to include it in the DSM was derailed primarily for political rather than scientific reasons. However, mental health professionals treating and evaluating sex offenders continued to identify serial rapists who appeared to demonstrate a paraphilic arousal to coercive sex. With the introduction of a new generation of sex offender civil commitment laws in the mid 1990s, PCD reappeared of sorts under the rubric paraphilic disorder not otherwise specified, nonconsent. Partly due to renewed legal interest, but also due to the ongoing need to diagnose, manage, and treat dangerous sex offenders, PCD is now proposed for inclusion in the next edition of the diagnostic manual, the DSM-5. Yet the controversy in the psychiatric community over PCD is no less heated now than during the original debate in the 1980s. Despite the legal and political ramifications, there is a growing consensus among sex offender professionals some serial rapists. We have not discussed etiology and theories of how PCD develops, which goes beyond the scope of this paper. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)