Developmental theory and developmental deficits: the treatment of sex offenders with Asperger’s Syndrome

This chapter argues that "one size fits all" packages obscure important differences among sex offenders. It discusses that poor emotion regulation is a core feature of Asperger's syndrome, and is clearly apparent in the adult. A truly developmental theory is required to understand sex offending in adult men with Asperger's syndrome. The chapter suggests that when the organic deficit underlying Asperger's syndrome is present in an infant, psychological development is necessarily disrupted, with a personality disorder-like syndrome being the outcome. It examines Fonagy's theory in more detail. Fonagy and colleagues refer to the conflation of internal experience and external reality as a state of psychic equivalence. Fonagy and colleagues have proposed a theory to explain the development of the features of borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD involves a chronic dysregulation of behaviour, relationship, emotion, and cognition. Behavioural skills such as breathing exercises, relaxation training, and yoga will be useful concrete strategies for the regulation of emotion.