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Paul Fedoroff

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J. Paul Fedoroff (born August 23, 1958) is a Canadian forensic psychiatrist, sexologist, and researcher who specializes in treating individuals with paraphilic disorders and/or individuals with developmental delay. He is now the first director of the Sexual Behaviours Clinic (SBC) at the Institute of Mental Health Research at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre located in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a full professor of forensic psychiatry, criminology, and law at the University of Ottawa.[1]

Fedoroff is known for his research on assessing and treating individuals who have committed sexual offences and/or individuals who have problematic sexual interests (known as paraphilic interests). He is known for stating that a paradigm shift can change the way we view human sexuality, thereby changing how we approach treating paraphilic disorders. He states that sexual interests can change through treatment and his treatment program has been recognized in the media.[2] The details of his treatment approach for problematic sexual interests is described in his book The Paraphilias: Changing Suits in the Evolution of Sexual Interest Paradigms.[3]

Biography

Early life and education

John Paul Fedoroff was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He is the son of Sergey Fedoroff, the fourth president of the Pan American Association of Anatomy (1975-1978), who is considered the father of tissue culture for his research in tissue culture and nerve cell regeneration.[4]

In 1980, Fedoroff graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (advanced) in psychology from the University of Saskatchewan. He went on to pursue medical school at the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. He pursued a Senior Clinical Fellow in Neuropsychiatry and a Clinical Fellow in Advanced Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions from 1988 to 1990. At Johns Hopkins, he was supervised by Dr. John Money, who is known for his research on gender and theory of lovemaps. In 1990, Fedoroff then pursued a Clinical Fellow in Forensic Psychiatry at the Clark Institute of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

Career

Fedoroff has worked at several psychiatry sites as a staff psychiatrist, including: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Toronto Hospital, Whitby Medical Health Centre, and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).[5][6]

In 2001, he became a member of the Ontario Review Board. In 2010, he became an appointed member of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) for the International Policy Committee. That same year, he became the chair of the Committee on Sex Offenders for the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

Sexual Behaviours Clinic

Fedoroff is the first director of the Sexual Behaviours Clinic, otherwise known as the SBC, located at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre in Ottawa, Canada. Under the directorship of Fedoroff, the SBC has won many awards, including the Gold Achievement Award from the APA (2015) and the Innovation Award from Crime Prevention Ottawa (2018).

The Sexual Behaviours Clinic provides assessment and treatment for sexual and psychological problems. The clinic utilizes phallometric testing to assess patients who have and/or are accused of having illegal sexual interests and/or paraphilic disorders. The clinic also conducts research on assessing and treating paraphilic disorders, and is now working on prevention. The clinic launched the second known prevention campaign that treats people with pedophilic interests who have never been involved in the judicial system.[7] The clinic is also known to collaborate internationally for the standardization of assessment and treatment of problematic sexual interests and behaviours.[8] The SBC has also published with researchers who are a part of the German Dunkelfeld Project.

Views

Gender

Although Fedoroff was mentored by John Money, he disagrees with Money who combines gender, orientation, and interest as a fused package of sexuality. Money proposed that once gender roles are "imprinted", they are permanent and unchangeable.[9] Instead, Fedoroff states that the current paradigm of human sexuality should shift away from Money's "lovemaps" paradigm which were established in the 1950s. Rather, Fedoroff states that sexuality has five distinct components with varying levels of mutability. These five components are: genetics, gender, sexual drive, sexual orientation, and sexual interest.

Pedophilia as a sexual interest

Fedoroff's research has found that the pedophilic interests can change with treatment. Notably, there have been no hands-on reoffences against children once patients are treated at the SBC.[10] He believes that pedophilia is a sexual interest and not a sexual orientation. Supporting this notion, his research has found that treatment has been effective in changing sexual arousal towards children as measured by the penile plethysmography for men who had pedophilic sexual interests.[11]

He has engaged in debate with James Cantor on whether pedophilic disorder can be cured and whether pedophilia can change and addresses the logical fallacies that influence the beliefs pedophilia cannot change.[12] Fedoroff's stance towards treatment is that, "Clinicians should inform patients there is no evidence that paraphilias, including pedophilia, cannot change."[13] Countering Cantor's arguments about pedophilia as an orientation, Fedoroff states:

There are several problems that arise from accepting the definition of pedophilia as an orientation. Referring to pedophilia (which is defined solely on the basis of sexual interest in children) as an orientation (which is defined on the basis of gender of affection) confuses what is pathologic about the condition of pedophilia. It is not that the person feels affection toward children; it is that the person is sexually aroused by children... Because they equate pedophilia with orientation, commentators who claim that pedophilia is an untreatable condition often resort to arguments more applicable to homosexuality.[14]

During their debate, Fedoroff points out fallacies stated by Cantor concerning the treatment of pedophilia.

Awards and honours

In 2012, Fedoroff was awarded as a distinguished fellow from the Canadian Psychiatric Association, as a fellow from the American Psychiatric Association, and received the Bruno Cormier Award for "Contributions to Forensic Psychiatry in Canada".

In 2015, Fedoroff was the president of the International Academy of Sex Research (IASR)[15] and the Canadian Association of Psychiatry and the Law.[16] He was also awarded as Specialist of the Year from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in the same year. During the same year, his work was also recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The APA awarded the Sexual Behaviours Clinic with the Gold Achievement Award. The Gold Achievement Award is the highest honour from the APA for excellence in academic clinical research program in North America.[17]

In 2017, he was awarded the Earl L. Loschen Award for Clinical Practice from the National Association for the Dually Diagnosed (NADD).[18]

In 2018, the Sexual Behaviours Clinic was awarded the Innovation Award from Crime Prevention Ottawa for community safety. This award was given for his team's work in preventing sex crimes in the community by treating individuals who are at risk of committing them.[19]

The Prevention Project

The Prevention Project began in 2015 and launched in 2017. It is the first of its kind in Canada to prevent child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation by providing treatment to those who feel that they are at high risk of sexually offending, and/or concerned about their thoughts, urges, and/or behaviours. The treatment model is based on the belief that pedophilic interests can change, and aims to redirect the client's interest to consenting adults and live healthier sex lives. The SBC utilizes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and the Good Lives Model. Depending on the individual's needs, treatment can include individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, medication, and referrals to relevant mental health programs.

Bibliography

Fedoroff has published over 100 research articles and book chapters,[20][5] and over 200 scientific presentations and talks around the world.

References

  1. ^ "J. Paul Fedoroff". uOttawa. University of Ottawa. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  2. ^ Paperny, Anna Mehler (November 7, 2014). ""I thought I'd be that way forever": How do you treat a violent sex disorder?". Global. Global News. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  3. ^ Fedoroff, J. Paul (2020). The Paraphilias: Changing Suits in the Evolution of Sexual Interest Paradigms (1 ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-046632-9.
  4. ^ Losardo, Ricardo Jorge; Cruz Gutiérrez, Rolando; Prates, José Carlos; Moscovici, Mauricio; Rodríguez Torres, Alberto; Arteaga Martínez, Manuel (2015). "Sergey Fedoroff: A pioneer of the neuronal regeneration. Tribute from the Pan American Association of Anatomy" (PDF). International Journal of Morphology. 33 (2): 794–800. doi:10.4067/S0717-95022015000200059. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  5. ^ a b "J. Paul Fedoroff". Transgender Map. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  6. ^ "IATSO Conference Board". IATSO. INDIGES.
  7. ^ "The Prevention Study". Sexual Behaviours Clinic. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  8. ^ Murphy, Lisa; Fedoroff, J. Paul (June 24, 2019). "Steps towards international standardization in the assessment and treatment of problematic sexual interests and behaviours. This international collaboration includes sites from the US, Czech Republic, and Russia". International Review of Psychiatry. 31 (2): 111–113. doi:10.1080/09540261.2019.1610264. PMID 31230532.
  9. ^ Money, John (March 1957). "Imprinting and the establishment of gender role". Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry. 77 (3): 333–336. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1957.02330330119019. PMID 13402268. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  10. ^ Fedoroff, J. Paul (July 29, 2016). "Pedophilia: Interventions That Work". Psychiatric Times. 33 (7). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  11. ^ Müller, Karolina; Curry, Susan; Ranger, Rebekah; Briken, Peer; Bradford, John; Fedoroff, John Paul (May 2014). "Changes in sexual arousal as measured by penile plethysmography in men with pedophilic sexual interest". Journal of Sexual Medicine. 11 (5): 1221–1229. doi:10.1111/jsm.12488. PMID 24636071. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  12. ^ Fedoroff, J. Paul (August 20, 2018). ""Can People with Pedophilia Change?: Yes they can!"". Current Sexual Health Reports. 10 (4): 207–212. doi:10.1007/s11930-018-0166-1. S2CID 81620548. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  13. ^ Cantor, James; Fedoroff, J. Paul (August 1, 2018). "Can Pedophiles Change? Response to Opening Arguments and Conclusions". Current Sexual Health Reports. 10 (4): 213–220. doi:10.1007/s11930-018-0167-0. S2CID 81284428. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  14. ^ Fedoroff, J. Paul (June 2020). "The Pedophilia and Orientation Debate and Its Implications for Forensic Psychiatry". Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 48 (2): 146–150. PMID 32513758. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Past IASR Conferences". IASR. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Appointee Biographies: Ontario Review Board". Ontario Government. Queen's Printer. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Four Outstanding Mental Health Programs To Be Honored at IPS: The Mental Health Services Conference". American Psychiatric Association. American Psychiatric Association. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Earl L. Loschen Award for Clinical Practice". NADD. NADD. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Clinic director wins community safety award". The Royal. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  20. ^ Fedoroff, J. P. (2015). "Gold Award: Improving Community Safety by Providing Treatment to a Highly Marginalized Clinical Population". Psychiatric Services. 66 (10): e1-4. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.661010. PMID 26423171.
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