Etudes Non Stop Study Non Stop
Related Articles
On the pedophilia process in Dendermonde, the term “chemical castration” has fallen. This means that with medication, you lower a person’s testosterone level to decrease or even eliminate their sexual appetite. One of the defendants indicated that he was ready to submit to this procedure, to prevent him from falling back into his child sexual habits. But does chemical castration really work?
What is chemical castration? Or, as doctors prefer to call it, androgen deprivation therapy? Inge Jeandarme, of the Rekem psychiatric care center, explained it in “The world today” on Radio 1: “By taking drugs, we reduce the level of testosterone. It is the most important male sex hormone. By reducing it to pre-pubertal levels, the desire to be sexually active is also significantly reduced, if not eliminated.
But is this a panacea for persuading pedophiles, for example, to stop committing facts? Inge Jeandarme: “It is never a treatment that is given alone, it is always given in combination with conversation therapy and other forms of therapy”.
Because libido is not solely responsible for criminal acts. “There is also the personality profile, or the fact that people have privacy issues. But if you have a preference for pedophilia or an addiction to sex, then this therapy can be a tool ”.
It is not a panacea, there is never a 100% guarantee
A tool, because the combination of chemical castration and therapy is not a panacea either, explains Inge Jeandarme: “There is no there is never a 100% guarantee. We know from scientific studies that you get a very significant reduction in the recidivism rate. In general, we can reduce the recidivism rate of sex offenders by 50% ”.
Chemical castration is not without risk either and the patient may therefore always have to consent to treatment. There is an influence on sperm production and therefore on fertility, at puberty there is an influence on physical changes such as beard growth, and there can be an influence on bone growth, which makes osteoporosis a risk.
