At the center in Arcadia, James Novell, left, attends a group meeting with Dr. Harry Spears, center and David Capitos, all facing forward. Photo by Patrick Farrell/Miami Herald

Experts rely on a treatment approach similar to those used for alcolhol and drug addiction.

Because there is no cure for the mental disorders that drive many sexual offenders, treatment is a lifelong process of learning to cope with the powerful urges that can shatter the lives of people in their path, numerous experts say.

So clinicians take an approach similar to tactics used with alcoholism and drug addiction: train the mind to identify the powerful and persistent cravings, understand the consequences of carrying out those urges, and ward them off -- one day at a time.

''The child is to the pedophile as the bottle is to the alcoholic,'' said Fred Berlin, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. ``This is often being treated for a cure rather than as a chronic disorder that needs follow up.''

While clinicians have yet to come up with a cure for the mental disorders, called paraphilias, they say treatment makes a difference.

Dozens of studies have found offenders who participate in even a small amount of therapy are less likely to commit new crimes. Some studies even suggest treatment works better than incarceration.

Because paraphilias cause intense sexual cravings -- which, along with hunger and thirst, are among the most potent biological urges in humans -- prison is often not enough to trigger a change in offenders.

One reason: The temptations are not in the prison -- but outside.

Most clinicians rely heavily on group therapy sessions, where offenders prod one another to face their demons, help each other recognize the patterns leading to their crimes -- and be there for one another when they feel they're about to slip.

Along with group sessions such as Arousal Management and Victim Empathy, polygraph tests are used to measure offenders' honesty about their crimes and emotions. Plethysmographs, which measure blood flow to sexual organs, gauge whether the men are controlling their urges.

Another more extreme method: amonia therapy, with offenders inhaling the toxic gases to control their deviant urges.

James Silcox, 60, spent 14 years in prison and one year at the Florida Civil Commitment Center for three counts of lewd and lascivious acts in 1987. He says the year he spent in Florida's treatment center did little to help him come to grips with his offenses. Instead, it has been the group therapy sessions on the outside that has helped him control his urges.

''I struggle with my sickness and get by day for day. If it wasn't for this group, I would have [messed up] a long time ago,'' he said during a weekly group therapy session in Ocala.