Treatment
Although pedophilia has yet no cure, various treatments are available that are aimed at reducing or preventing the expression of pedophilic behavior, reducing the prevalence of child sexual abuse.[20][89] Treatment of pedophilia often requires collaboration between law enforcement and health care professionals.[6][20] A number of proposed treatment techniques for pedophilia have been developed,
though the success rate of these therapies has been very low.
Causes and biological associations
Although what causes pedophilia is not yet known, beginning in 2002, researchers began reporting a series of findings linking pedophilia with brain structure and function: Pedophilic (and hebephilic) men have lower IQs,[74][75][76] poorer scores on memory tests,[75] greater rates of non-right-handedness,[74][75][77][78] greater rates of school grade failure over and above the IQ differences,[79] lesser physical height,[80] greater probability of having suffered childhood head injuries resulting in unconsciousness,[62][81] and several differences in MRI-detected brain structures.[82][83][84] They report that their findings suggest that there are one or more neurological characteristics present at birth that cause or increase the likelihood of being pedophilic. Evidence of familial transmittability "suggests, but does not prove that genetic factors are responsible" for the development of pedophilia.[85]
Another study, using structural MRI, shows that male pedophiles have a lower volume of white matter than a control group.[82]
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has shown that child molesters diagnosed with pedophilia have reduced activation of the hypothalamus as compared with non-pedophilic persons when viewing sexually arousing pictures of adults.[86] A 2008 functional neuroimaging study notes that central processing of sexual stimuli in heterosexual "paedophile forensic inpatients" may be altered by a disturbance in the prefrontal networks, which "may be associated with stimulus-controlled behaviours, such as sexual compulsive behaviours." The findings may also suggest "a dysfunction at the cognitive stage of sexual arousal processing."[87]
Blanchard, Cantor, and Robichaud (2006) reviewed the research that attempted to identify hormonal aspects of pedophiles.[61] They concluded that there is some evidence that pedophilic men have less testosterone than controls, but that the research is of poor quality and that it is difficult to draw any firm conclusion from it.
A study analyzing the sexual fantasies of 200 heterosexual men by using the Wilson Sex Fantasy Questionnaire exam, determined that males with a pronounced degree of paraphilic interest (including pedophilia) had a greater number of older brothers, a high 2D:4D digit ratio (which would indicate excessive prenatal estrogen exposure), and an elevated probability of being left-handed, suggesting that disturbed hemispheric brain lateralization may play a role in deviant attractions.[88]
Child 










Child











is commonly collected by pedophiles who use the images for a variety of purposes, ranging from private sexual uses, trading with other pedophiles, preparing children for sexual abuse as part of the process known as "child grooming," or enticement leading to entrapment for sexual exploitation such as production of new child











or child prostitution.[68][69][70]
Pedophile viewers of child











are often obsessive about collecting, organizing, categorizing, and labeling their child











collection according to age, gender, sex act and fantasy.[71][72] According to FBI agent Ken Lanning, "collecting"











does not mean that they merely view











, but that they save it, and "it comes to define, fuel, and validate their most cherished sexual fantasies." An extensive collection indicates a strong sexual preference for children and the owned collection is the single best indicator of what he or she wants to do.[72] Researchers Taylor and Quayle reported that pedophile collectors of child











are often involved in anonymous internet communities dedicated to extending their collections.[73] Pedophile online community bulletin boards (such as the defunct Dreamboard, taken down in Operation Delego), often includes technical advice regarding encryption and other measures from experienced child pornographers to assist new perpetrators from detection from law enforcement.[72]
Some child molesters pedophiles or not threaten their victims to stop them from reporting their actions.[1] Others, like those that often victimize children, can develop complex ways of getting access to children, like gaining the trust of a child's parent, trading children with other pedophiles or, infrequently, get foster children from non-industrialized nations or abduct child victims from strangers.[1] Offending pedophiles may often act interested in the child, to gain the child's interest, loyalty and affection to keep the child from letting others know about the abuse.[1]