Practice Standards and Guidelines for the Evaluation, Treatment, and Management of Sexual Abusers: Bamboozle No More

Abstract

The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers' (ATSA) 2005 Practice Standards and Guidelines (PSG) are reviewed with reference to the American Psychological Association's (2002a) Criteria for Practice Guideline Development and Evaluation. The 2005 ATSA PSG show considerable improvement over the 2001 version, and suggestions are made for further improvements. It is recommended that future iterations of PSG should list standards and guidelines separately, and not include treatment guidelines within the same document. Careful review of empirical research should precede development of treatment guidelines, and it is suggested that there is insufficient empirical basis to warrant the establishment of sex-offender treatment guidelines at this time. Significant public damage sparked by the 2001 PSG has not been repaired by simply replacing the old version with a new model. Repairing the damage to states' laws and rules is a priority for mental-health professionals.