Sex addiction is a growing problem with harmful effects. It is a disease, it is a mental, spiritual, psychological, emotional and physical disease. Due to the sexual nature of addiction, it is not widely or openly discussed. For this reason, many people suffer with their addiction in silence.
According to the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health, “Sexual addiction is a persistent and increasing pattern or patterns of sexual behaviors that manifest themselves despite increasingly negative consequences to oneself or others.”
Some of these sexual behaviors include masturbation, viewing pornography, engaging in cybersex, engaging in phone sex, going out to strip clubs, hiring prostitutes or engaging in prostitution, sex with multiple anonymous partners, and repeated sequential affairs, to name a few.
While at first glance, this addiction may seem like a moral problem, it’s clear that it’s also a real medical condition. This is demonstrated by a draft published in 2010 by the American Psychiatric Association that recognizes it as a medical disorder that they formally call “Hypersexual Disorder”. The draft lists the following symptoms of the disorder:
The addicted individual spends “Excessive time consumed by sexual fantasies and urges, and by planning and engaging in sexual behavior.” This is called the obsession part of the disease. The person thinks, daydreams, and is always planning how to get their next “fix.”
“Repetitively engaging in these fantasies, urges, and sexual behaviors in response to dysphoric moods (eg, anxiety, depression, boredom, irritability).” This is called the compulsion. The addict can’t get enough, he needs more of the drug from him to be satisfied.
“Repetitively engaging in sexual fantasies, urges, and behaviors in response to stressful life events.” This part of the obsession takes place when triggers are created, when life becomes too stressful, the addict doesn’t know how to feel or get excited properly, so they use their sex addiction to medicate their feelings.
“Repetitive but unsuccessful efforts to control or significantly reduce these sexual fantasies, urges, and behaviors.” Many addicts realize they have a problem and want to quit on their own, this will not happen. It’s a disease, and just like cancer, you can’t just realize you have cancer and say I’ll stop having cancer. Help is mandatory to deal with this addiction.
“Repetitively engaging in sexual behavior without regard to the risk of physical or emotional harm to self or others.” Who in their right mind would engage in behavior that is harmful to themselves or others? a sick person is the answer and because the sex addict is suffering and fighting a disease, he needs help.
Sex addiction is similar to other addictions in many ways. For one, the changes in brain chemistry are similar. Family history of addiction is prevalent in both sex addicts and alcoholics and drug addicts. Additionally, addicts generally report coming from homes that lacked care. In most cases, addicts reported an abusive history that included emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. They also report having been from family environments where neglect, abandonment, and entanglement were common. Finally, many sex addicts suffer from other addictions. Because of these similarities to drug and alcohol addiction, the consequences and treatment options are very similar.
As you can imagine, this addiction has serious consequences in all areas of life for sex addicts, including social, emotional, physical, legal, financial/employment, and spiritual. As such, recovery from sex addiction can be a lifelong challenge. However, there is hope for sex addicts. They have to take the first step and commit to recovery. Once an addict has committed, there are a number of recovery options available, including counseling, individual and group therapy, and all-inclusive sexual addiction recovery programs.
