Gene G Abel

Many authors have commented on the impact of sexual assault on the sexual lives of the victims. Eighty-three victims were interviewed with regard to their sexual histories, and completed the Sexual Arousal Inventory, to determine the incidence and types of sexual dysfunctions in rape and incest victims: 56% of these victims experienced sexual dysfunctions postassault; 71% of these subjects reported that the sexual assault precipitated the dysfunction. Fear of sex, arousal or desire ...

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study are to demonstrate 1) the criterion validity of the Abel Assessment for sexual interest (AASI) based on its ability to discriminate between non child molesters and admitting child molesters, and 2) its resistance to falsification based on its ability to discriminate between liar-denier child molesters and non child molesters.

METHOD: A group of 747 participants matched by age, race, and income was used to develop three logistic regression equations. The ...

It is important to determine the sexual interests of those accused of child molestation. Visual reaction time and plethysmography are two means of measuring sexual interest with some objectivity, but there has been no direct comparison of these methodologies. The reliability and validity of visual reaction time and plethysmography were evaluated in groups of individuals with sexual interest in children of various ages and genders. Results showed that both methods of assessment had a high ...

The hyperventilation syndrome is present in as many as 50% of patients with non-cardiac chest pain. This study evaluated a behavioral treatment of this disorder in three adult females. They had long histories of chest pain and were documented to be free of coronary artery disease. Each subject met the DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. Following treatment, all subjects showed a marked decrease in the frequency and intensity of chest pain episodes and in the frequency ...

Evaluating how a client is doing in therapy is a problem faced by all therapists. This is an especially important issue when the client is a rapist or child molester, since not knowing that his control is poor or that he has failed to respond to treatment may jeopardize the safety of others. Therapists have traditionally relied on the client's self-report to evaluate how he is doing. This traditional method of assessment in some cases is quite efficient and provides the therapist with ...

Erections were measured in 20 male homosexual subjects under three instructional conditions and within three stimulus modalities. The three conditions were arousal (e.g., imagine yourself involved and get aroused), suppression (e.g., imagine yourself involved but suppress erection responses), and rearousal (e.g., imagine yourself involved and get aroused). The three stimulus modalities studied were video tapes, slides or pictures, and audio tapes of homosexual cues. The results show that ...

Relatively few procedures exist for developing heterosexual arousal in the treatment of sexual deviation (Barlow, 1973) although several recent studies suggest this is a necessary component of treatment (Feldman and MacCulloch, 1971; Bancroft, 1970; Barlow, 1974).In recent years, biofeedback techniques have been applied to many types of disorders (Blanchard and Young, 1974). Basic to biofeedback technology is the notion that providing a person with feedback (or immediate information) of ...

The relationship between levels of frontalis muscle activity and self-reports of pain was evaluated in two studies. In Study I frontalis muscle activity and self-reports of pain collected during biofeedback treatment of muscular contraction headache clients were correlated. In Study II frontalis EMG activity was increased and decreased using biofeedback techniques while concurrent reports of headache pain were recorded. The results of Study I indicated a significant relationship between ...

The technique of measuring penile erection is the most valid assessment of sexual arousal in males (Zuckerman, 1971). The stimuli used during assessments of sexual preference with this technique have for the most part, been still or moving pictures of nude single females and males (Freund, 1963; McConaghy, 1967; Barlow, Becker, Leitenberg and Agras, 1970). Recently Abel, Barlow, Blanchard and Mavissakalian (in press) have shown that erotic films produce significantly ...

In a systematic study, 372 sexual assault survivors and 99 women with no history of sexual assault were interviewed with regard to their sexual histories to determine the incidence and types of sexual dysfunctions in these two samples. The women also completed the Sexual Arousability Inventory. Of the sexual assault survivors, 58.6% of the women were experiencing sexual dysfunctions, with 71% of them reporting that their sexual assaults were related to their development of sexual ...

Two hundred and forty child molester paraphiliacs, 48 non-child molesting paraphiliacs and 86 non-paraphiliacs were administered a 29 item Likert scale of statements designed to determine: 1) if cognitive distortions concerning child molestation exist among child molesters and (2) if child molesters can be discriminated from non-child molesters by assessing their cognitive distortions. Factor analysis yielded six factors covering the general area of child molestation being harmful to the ...

Two hundred and forty child molester paraphiliacs, 48 non-child molesting paraphiliacs and 86 non-paraphiliacs were administered a 29 item Likert scale of statements designed to determine: 1) if cognitive distortions concerning child molestation exist among child molesters and (2) if child molesters can be discriminated from non-child molesters by assessing their cognitive distortions. Factor analysis yielded six factors covering the general area of child molestation being harmful to the ...

Direct biofeedback of blood pressure was compared with frontal EMG biofeedback and with self-instructed relaxation for the treatment of essential hypertension in a controlled group outcome study. Patients were followed up for four months after the end of treatment. Generalization of treatment effects was assessed through pre- and posttreatment measurements of blood pressure under clinical conditions in a physician's office. There were no significant reductions in diastolic blood ...

With the recent realization of the extent to which adolescents are committing sexual offenses, researchers have attempted to identify valid and reliable assessment instruments for this population. Some such assessment instruments (i.e., plethysmography, self-report) have met with criticism relative to their utility with juvenile offenders. The present study aimed to assess the validity of the Abel Assessment for sexual interest™ (AASI) with male adolescents who have molested children. ...

A series of related single-case experiments were designed to clarify the separate therapeutic variables of the behavior modification treatment of anorexia nervosa. Positive and negative reinforcement, informational feedback, and the size of meals contributed to increased eating behavior.Aspects of the data suggest that feedback of information as to weight and caloric intake may be the most important variable in that it sets the occasion for reinforcement. Without feedback, positive ...