An adolescent with bestiality behaviour: Psychological evaluation and community health concerns

Abstract

Bestiality is a serious but less commonly reported form of animal cruelty occurring in a society. It is a punishable sexual offence in India. Bestiality has received little attention in recent psychiatric literature, and even though case reports have been published, an elaborate psychological assessment is often missing. This case report of 18 year old male presented here highlighted the importance of psychological assessment to emphasize on its implications for the further risk assessment of the person, family psycho-education and non-pharmacological intervention for bestialists. The overall assessment suggested of absence of any brain dysfunction and active psychopathology, average intelligence (IQ) and intact cognitive functioning. The findings portrayed physical and sexual inadequacies, emotional and sexual immaturity, difficulty in emotional attachment, internalized hostility, voyeuristic tendencies and infantile social behaviour, excitement seeker, inability to delay gratification of impulses, lacks empathy, poor self-discipline, less conscientiousness and less sensitive to criticism. The report also emphasized the role of child sexual abuse on sexual behavior later life. The importance of including the topic within the community health/sexual and reproductive health education programmes was highlighted.