Generally, over the last two decades theory and research into the cognitive distortions of child molesters have been scant. For many years Abel’s theory on the cognitive distortions of child molesters was the beginning framework for most research on the topic. Abel’s cognitive distortion framework uses social learning theory to explain how the normal development of some boys goes eschew to promote deviant and inappropriate sexual arousal to children. Abel further explained that in order for these men to deal with the disparity between their deviant sexual arousal and the expectations of society, they develop pro-sexual offending beliefs that frame their actions and thoughts as being more appropriate. Approximately 6 years ago, however, Ward introduced the concept of implicit theory (IT) into the research literature on child molesters. According to Ward, child molesters' offense-supportive beliefs are the product of ITs that can be used to make sense of their world. Therefore, child molesters are drawn to offense-supportive social information and ambiguous social information is interpreted in offense-supportive ways. The application of IT to understanding the cognitive distortions of child molesters have led therapists to target the core theories hypothesized to underlie the offense-supportive statements of child molesters. This method allows therapists to: (1) educate child molesters about the ways in which ITs function to skew their offense-related interpretations; (2) provide child molesters with alternative interpretations of information they see as being offense-supportive; and (3) challenge the underlying IT with highly IT-incongruent information. Future research is needed on the effectiveness of child molester treatment programs using an IT framework. References