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Neurobiologie abweichenden Sexualverhaltens

Neurobiology of sexual deviancy

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Abstract

The etiology of existing paraphilic disorders remains poorly understood, and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying different sexual preferences are also incompletely characterized. The existing neurobiological findings examining sexual deviations, in particular studies using modern imaging techniques, are thus far limited to case studies. For instance, previous findings have associated the development of pedophilic preferences with tumors in prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices.

There are many phenomenological similarities and biological correlates between paraphilic disorders and a series of disorders summarized as obsessive compulsive spectrum disorders. For all these disorders, current neurobiological models discuss disturbances of the striato-thalamo-cortical network which overlaps with the dopaminergic reward system. This article reviews and critically discusses existing neurobiological characteristics of the sexual deviancies. To this end, it also reviews the current findings of functional imaging studies in the context of the network model.

Zusammenfassung

Ebenso wie bislang kaum empirisch fundierte Ätiologiemodelle der einzelnen paraphilen Störungen existieren, so sind auch die neurobiologischen Grundlagen der verschiedenen Sexualpräferenzen bislang kaum verstanden.Neben einigen Hinweisen aufgrund neuropsychologischer Forschung beschränkten sich die bisherigen neurobiologischen Befunde zu sexuellen Deviationen, insbesondere die unter Nutzung moderner bildgebender Verfahren, bislang weitgehend auf Einzelfalluntersuchungen, die bspw. die Herausbildung pädophiler Neigungen in Zusammenhang mit Tumoren im Bereich des präfrontalen bzw. orbitofrontalen Kortex (OFC) gestellt haben.

Neuere neurobiologische Modellvorstellungen diskutieren vor dem Hintergrund phänomenologischer Ähnlichkeiten und biologischer Korrelate der paraphilen Störungen und einer Reihe von Störungen, die zusammenfassend als Zwangsspektrumsstörungen beschrieben werden, eine Störung eines striatothalamokortikalen Netzwerkes, das viele Überschneidungen mit dem dopaminergen Belohnungssystem aufweist. Die vorliegende Übersichtsarbeit stellt die bisherigen neurobiologischen Erkenntnisse über sexuelle Abweichungen zusammenfassend dar und diskutiert am Schluss die neueren Erkenntnisse aus funktionell-bildgebenden Studien im Hinblick auf die besagte Netzwerkstörungshypothese.

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  1. Institut für Forensische Psychiatrie, Rheinische Kliniken Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Virchowstr. 174, 45147, Essen, Deutschland

    Boris Schiffer

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Schiffer, B. Neurobiologie abweichenden Sexualverhaltens. Forens Psychiatr Psychol Kriminol 1, 139–146 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11757-007-0022-z

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