Pedophilia: A Diagnosis in Search of a Disorder

This article presents a critical review of the recent controversies concerning the diagnosis of pedophilia in the context
of the preparation of the fifth edition of the DSM. The analysis focuses basically on the relationship between pedophilia
and the current DSM-IV-TR’s definition of mental disorder. Scholars appear not to share numerous basic assumptions ranging
from their underlying ideas about what constitutes a mental disorder to the role of psychiatry in modern society, including
irreconcilable theories about human sexuality, which interfere with reaching any kind of a consensus as to what the psychiatric
status of pedophilia should be. It is questioned if the diagnosis of pedophilia contained in the DSM is more forensic than
therapeutic, focusing rather on the dangers inherent in the condition of pedophilia (dangerous dysfunction) than on its negative
effects for the subject (harmful dysfunction). The apparent necessity of the diagnosis of pedophilia in the DSM is supported,
but the basis for this diagnosis is uncertain.