SEX ADDICTION

MAY AS WELL FACE IT….YOUR ADDICTED TO SEX

Tiger Woods became famous for perfecting his athletic abilities in the sport of golf, yet he has established even more notoriety for helping scientist create a proper diagnosis for the obscure psychological disorder commonly known as sex addiction.

Sex addiction is characterized by an obsession with the thought of sex or the physical activity of having sex. Sex addicts use sex as a coping mechanism to deal with the stress of their everyday life to the point that it becomes obsessive. They differ from the typical person with a high sex drive, because they get upset when their partner says “NO” and generally act out thinking their partner is rejecting them.

However, being addicted to sex is a little more than getting angry with a spouse or partner for turning away sex. It is considered a psychological abnormality known as hyper sexuality disorder. According to Dr. Ken Zucker of the University of Toronto, “A lot of psychologist believe there is a clinical phenomenon between people who experience a lot of distress and get into a lot of trouble from having excessive sex."

Excessive compulsive traits are often times used to diagnose sex addiction. Repeated masturbation (usually several times a day and sometimes even after intercourse) along with an obsession with pornography is typically the cornerstone for most addicts. Once an extreme sexual desire has been established it generally manifest into the desire for multiple sex partners.

Having multiple sex partners leads to a disassociation between love and intimacy. People with multiple sex partners remain somewhat detached from trusting, intimate relationships. It is human nature to associate love with trust. In order to truely love one must trust the person they are in love with. And a sex addict has a hard time trusting others because they are unable to be trusted.

Although sex addicts often enter into long-term relationships or marriages, their partners report many similar feelings such as the feeling of aloneness and the sense that they can’t open up and tell you about their “real” self.

Some sex addicts experience what is known as a later stage of sex addiction known as sexual anorexia. In this stage of addiction, the addict prefers fantasy sex with themselves or others over relationship sex with a partner or spouse. Therefore, the couple has sex infrequently and usually at the request of the partner and not the addict.

Treatment for sex addiction takes time and hard work, especially in the first year. Therapists who specialize in sex addiction say that it is like treating substance abuse. Therapy includes a combination of counseling and administering anti-depressants.

SCIENTIFIC FACTS ABOUT SEX ADDICTION

• Sex addiction is estimated to affect 3 to 6 percent of adults in the United States, according to the Mayo Clinic. www.mayoclinic.com
• About 80 percent of sex addiction cases have sexual abuse or emotional trauma in their backgrounds, said Doug Weiss, therapist and executive director of the Heart to Heart Counseling Center.
• People with an abusive background are less likely to trust people and more likely to turn to something like sex addiction as a manifestation, said Mark Schwartz, psychologist and former director of the Masters and Johnson Institute in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Feelings of neglect as a child -- whether from divorced parents or parents who both worked and didn't spend a lot of time with their kids -- may also lead to sex addiction, Schwartz said.



~Tonya Lachey