PENNSYLVANIA
Go Lackawanna
April 15. 2014
SCRANTON — According to a search warrant affidavit, the Rev. Philip Altavilla admitted to police he has “struggled with a pantyhose, feet, strangulation and chloroform fetish.”
What prompts such disorders? And could it have been detected through psychological screening?
Solid answers remain largely unknown, Geisinger Medical Center Danville Psychiatrist Robert Gerstman said. And because such conditions are comparatively uncommon, there isn’t much incentive to find the answers.
“It’s rare,” Gerstman said. “As far as to why it occurs, they looked into proportions of hormones” — the ratio of testosterone, estrogen and others — “but hormone therapy helps only a few people.”
“There is a low percentage of people who have it,” he said. “Unfortunately, it draws a lot of attention when it does occur.”
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