What Is Sex Addiction?
Although sexual addiction is not yet listed in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it is an addiction like any other. Just like drug and alcohol addiction, for some people sex creates neurochemical changes in the brain, affecting the amount of dopamine that is released. Dopamine is a chemical that is involved with mood and movement, so when enough dopamine is released and not re-absorbed, the brain associates it with positive behavior and thus wants more.
The physical symptoms of sexual addiction include loss of control (being unable to control the frequency and outcome of episodes), tolerance (the need for more and more sex to achieve the same pleasurable effect), and withdrawal (feeling depressed or sick without sex). The mental symptoms include obsession (sex takes over a person’s values, interests, and beliefs), denial (a person can’t see the problem clearly), and the illusion of control (believing they can stop whenever they want or fix the problem themselves).
CBS's Dr. Jonathan LaPook spoke to addiction treatments specialist Mavis Humes Baird, who says that sex addicts are in the throes of an impulse they can’t control and that there are underlying changes in the brain that cannot be addressed by psychotherapy alone. She explained, “For example, if one of the partners in a couple is having affairs and they’re not a sex addict, marriage counseling or family therapy is very effective. But if they’re a sex addict, all the therapy in the world getting at problems in the relationship won’t touch the addiction.
“One of the primary referral sources for sex addiction is couples counselors who have been doing attachment work with couples for years with the addiction going on unaffected and sometimes kept secret for all those years. You can’t treat the problems between the partners until the addiction is treated. And that’s done by a combination of specific treatment protocols and 12-step program involvement, and sometimes medication.”
Baird also told LaPook that there is a struggle regarding whether sex addiction will be included in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders because some professionals are not yet convinced that sex addiction is a real disorder. One of the main repercussions of excluding it from the Manual is that it makes it harder for patients to receive treatment through their health insurance.
Dr. Erick Janssen, PhD, Director of Education and Research Training at the Kinsey Institute, says that there are no reliable statistics on sexual addiction. “That is, it has not been measured in representative samples of men and women. A few studies in non-representative samples have concluded that it could involve 5-10 percent of the adult population. Most sex researchers prefer not to use that term, instead relying on terms like ‘sexual compulsivity’ or ‘sexual impulsivity’ to reflect people’s experiences and actual behaviors.”
Whatever the decision ends up being for the Manual, it is clear that the pain and need for help are very real for people suffering from this disorder and their loved ones.
