title: Suicide and the publicly exposed pedophile.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Current clinical wisdom is that the vast majority of those who complete suicide suffer from a mental disorder. Uncritical adherence to this belief may limit our understanding and restrict the full range of prevention activities. We aimed to examine the public record for accounts of suicide by men who had been, or were about to be, investigated or apprehended for "sex only" child sex offences, with a view to presenting a collection of case histories, and identifying examples of suicide in the apparent absence of mental disorder other than pedophilia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The public record (hard and electronic copy) was examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty case histories were identified of men with no apparent mental disorder (other than pedophilia) who completed suicide shortly after exposure or threatened public exposure and/or early or potential legal punishment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This evidence strongly suggests that exposure or threatened public exposure of pedophilia and/or early or potential legal punishment creates a predicament, which may lead to completed suicide.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Sydney, and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Northern Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Garry
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Saxby
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pridmore
keywords: communications media; mental disorders; pedophilia; prevention; suicide