hap...
Having spent 20+ years in the field of mental health, I can
tell you that there is no simple answer as to the cause of
this sort of behavior. In general, a behavior is often
simply a symptom of an underlying issue, which can vary
dramatically from person to person - e.g., a sneeze is a
symptom of an underlying problem, but is the cause a bit
of dust in the air, or pepper, or a sinus infection, or
an allergy, etc.?
Indecent exposure, or exhibitionism, as it is known in the
field of mental health, is categorized under the heading
of 'paraphilias'.
Dr. Jacob L. Driesen's Neuropsychology, Medical Psychology,
and Neuroscience Website offers the following definition
of paraphilias:
"PARAPHILIAS refer to the involuntary and repeated needs
for unusual or bizarre imagery, acts, or objects to
induce sexual excitement. Such disorders include
exhibitionism (includes indecent exposure, but is not
limited to only that meaning), fetishism (the use of
nonliving objects), pedophilia (use of children),
sexual masochism (humiliation, suffering by oneself),
sexual sadism (humiliation, suffering by someone else),
voyeurism (watching others), frotteurism (rubbing
against others), and transvestistic fetishism
(cross-dressing in heterosexual males)."
http://www.driesen.com/glossary_p.htm#PARAPHILIAS
A basic introduction to paraphilias and their causes is
available on this page from the Web4Health site, written
by Wendy Moelker, psychologist in charge of Emergis, Goes,
the Netherlands:
"There are many theories that try to explain the origin of
an aberrant sexual fantasy, thought or behavior in persons,
but a final explanation is not known yet. We often assume
that they originate or are formed in puberty. There are
two important explanations for the development of sexual
variation. Explanations that come from the idea of social
development - how people treat each other - assume that
something is wrong with the ability of these people to get
involved in a relationship. This inability would be expressed
in the form of sexual variation. Exhibitionism and voyeurism
are then seen as clumsy attempts to make contact. Another
explanation is that of coincidental connections between
arousal and a certain situation or act. It is assumed that
you want to repeat the experience that led to arousal."
http://web4health.info/en/answers/sex-paraphi-causes.htm
With regard to the last point, there is a lengthy discussion
by Dr.Victor B. Cline, PhD, on the Latter Day Saints Recovery
website, in which he explores his contention that a vast
majority of the clients with whom he has worked in the
treatment of such conditions as exhibitionism began their
behaviors as a result of the autoerotic use of pornography:
"This addiction was followed by an increasing desensitization
to the materials' pathology, escalation to increasingly
varied, aberrant, and "rougher" kinds of erotic materials,
and eventually to acting out the sexual fantasies they were
exposed to...[including] exhibitionism, voyeurism, obscene
phone calls, soliciting prostitutes, brief affairs, and even
on occasion child molest and forced sex..."
Much more on the page:
http://www.ldsr.org/info/drcline.phtml
A considerably more succinct and professionally acceptable
explanation is given on this page from Psychology Today:
"Nathan, Gorman and Salkind (1999) provide the following
survey of current theories regarding the etiology of
paraphilias. Behavioral learning models suggest that a
child who is the victim or observer of inappropriate sexual
behaviors learn to imitate and is later reinforced for the
behavior. Compensation models suggest that these individuals
are deprived of normal social sexual contacts and thus seek
gratification through less socially acceptable means.
Physiological models focus on the relationship between
hormones, behavior and the central nervous systems with
a particular interest in the role of aggression and male
sexual hormones."
http://www.psychologytoday.com/htdocs/prod/PTOInfo/pto_term_exhibitionism.asp#causes
Another aspect of paraphilias in general, and exhibitionism
in particular, is the compulsivity of the behavior(s), a
point made by Arthur Panaro, a graduate of Southwestern
College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, whose personal story of
recovery reflects well on the College's mission statement
of "Preparing Mental Health Professionals Through
Transformational Learning":
"Compulsivity means repetitive unhealthy choices and actions,
which may have nothing to do with alcohol or drugs --
gambling, indecent exposure, or shoplifting are examples."
http://www.swc.edu/personalarthur.html
And finally, a more physiological explanation is discussed
in an abstract of an article published in the British Journal
of Psychiatry, titled 'Aggressive, socially disruptive and
antisocial behaviour associated with fronto-temporal dementia',
written by BL Miller, A Darby, DF Benson, JL Cummings and
MH Miller at the UCLA School of Medicine, USA:
"CONCLUSIONS: Degeneration of frontal and temporal lobes
predisposes to antisocial behaviour. This study supports
a relationship between frontal-temporal dysfunction and
certain types of antisocial activities."
[...]
"...which included assault, indecent exposure, shoplifting
and hit-and-run driving. Three FTD subjects were arrested."
Nine other articles, which reference the article above, are
also linked on the page:
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/170/2/150
This represents the gamut of causes typically considered
for the behavior you described in your question.
Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog
established through the "Request for Clarification" process.
A user's guide on this topic is on skermit-ga's site, here:
http://www.christopherwu.net/google_answers/answer_guide.html#how_clarify
sublime1-ga
Additional information can be gleaned from further exploration
of the links provided above, as well as those resulting from the
Google searches, outlined below:
Searches done, via Google:
pathology indecent exposure
://www.google.com/search?q=pathology+indecent+exposure
"compulsive disorder" "indecent exposure"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22compulsive+disorder%22+%22indecent+exposure%22
pathology exhibitionism
://www.google.com/search?q=pathology+exhibitionism
treating exhibitionism
://www.google.com/search?q=treating+exhibitionism
causes exhibitionism
://www.google.com/search?q=causes+exhibitionism |
