Sex Addiction
Over the past 20 years, sexual addiction has become a rampant part of American culture. Many people associate the rise in sexual addiction cases to the easy accessibility of pornography on the internet. Sexual addiction is thought to be a commonly co-occurring disorder. Often sexual addicts are seen to have substance abuse issues as well. If sex addiction is not addressed, individuals have a much higher chance of suffering from chemical abuse relapse, taking part in habitual, irrational and dangerous sexual activity and contracting sexually transmitted disease.
What is Sex Addiction?
Sex addiction, or sexual compulsivity, is a disorder characterized by an individual’s inability to control his or her sexual impulses. Relationships, work, and personal life are compromised by an individual’s obsession with sexual desires. Up to six percent of adults are estimated to be dealing with this disorder. Popular belief is that sex addicts desire the pleasure of sexual acts when in fact they are seeking a mechanism to mask emotional pain. By using sex, the feelings of loneliness, boredom, low self-esteem, and inadequacy are thrown by the wayside.
Who Suffers From Sex Addiction?
Like any other addiction, sex addiction can affect anyone. Although sexual compulsivity can affect anyone, it usually transpires in individuals who already present with some type of mental or addictive disorder. These often include alcohol or drug addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, and eating disorders. In addition, an alarming amount of sex addicts claim to have been abused at some point in their childhood.
What does Sex Addiction look like?
Sex addiction can be identifiable. Engaging in phone sex services, watch an obsessive amount of pornography and/or excessive masturbation are often early signs of the disorder. The addiction tends to lead to more dangerous behavior including unsafe sex, multiple partners, and extra-marital affairs.
Issues studied/noticed when diagnosing sexual addiction:
- Attention paid to everyday obligations such as work, school or family obligations. Sexual addicts will often neglect all obligations in order to pursue sex.
- The frequency of sexual activities. Addicts will often have more sex with more partners than they had ever intended.
- The amount of time and money spent on pornography whether magazine, videos or internet.
- The insistence on sex regardless of place and time and demanding about sex with your partner, particularly in regards to time and place.
How is Sexual Addiction treated?
Through individual therapy and treatment groups, individuals are taught how to deal with and control the feelings of loneliness, depression, and low self-esteem that may have caused them to turn to sex as a coping mechanism.
Prominence Treatment Center: The leader in sex addiction diagnosis and treatment.
Prominence Treatment understands the difficulties related to sex addiction. The experience, knowledge and treatment that we provide has made us the leader in sex addiction diagnosing and treatment. Sex addiction is a very dangerous and life threatening addiction. Every year families are torn apart, careers and relationships are destroyed and people lives are lost. If you or a loved one is suffering from this disabling addiction, do not wait any longer to receive help. Please call 1(855)201-0121 and speak with one of our staff members today!
