Is Sex Addiction Real?

[SluggerJ]

I always wondered if sex addiction was instead a symptom of other issues (filling some other need) rather than the urge for sex itself. But it can probably go either way, no?

[basschick]

i'd say you just defined all addictions.

I always wondered if sex addiction was instead a symptom of other issues (filling some other need) rather than the urge for sex itself. But it can probably go either way, no?

[Bec]

i'd say you just defined all addictions.

I'd have to agree ... whatever we get addicted to is usually a response to a lack of something else in our lives needing fulfilled.

[MiamiB]

Unless it is a physically addictive drug like cocaine or alcohol where the body actually requires more and more of the drug as tolerance builds up to achieve the same effect.

Sex addiction lacks that component and is totally a psychological addiction. Rehab I would imagine unlike chemical addiction which would have a detox period, would consist mainly of psychological counseling to recognize and deal with the problem and the underlying issues.

[basschick]

the physical part happens in the brain - the chemicals released during sex and orgasm are what cause addiction, and needing that feeling caused by those chemicals happens more and more frequently. most of the guys at my friend's meeting started out like the rest of us, masturbating and having sex in ways that didn't interfere with their lives. then started needing it more and more frequently over time and found it beginning first to intrude and then to interfere and finally to the point where their lives didn't work.

the long-lasting chemical changes in the brain are seen in cases of sex addiction - many of the same changes seen in substance addiction.

Unless it is a physically addictive drug like cocaine or alcohol where the body actually requires more and more of the drug as tolerance builds up to achieve the same effect.

Sex addiction lacks that component and is totally a psychological addiction. Rehab I would imagine unlike chemical addiction which would have a detox period, would consist mainly of psychological counseling to recognize and deal with the problem and the underlying issues.

[MiamiB]

Here is an interesting article on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_addiction

[Paco]

Hmm, let's list the similarities between sex and the other vices which many list as drugs (money, gambling, junk/fast food, pop, sugar, work, recreational narcotics, pharmaceuticals, exercising etc):

- people lie to get it.
- people steal and commit acts of fraud to help them acquire it.
- people harm & kill others for it.
- ruins marriages.
- create social problems---makes people anti-social.
- people spend all their earnings to acquire it---bankruptcy, become homeless
etc
- people do not think their vice is as bad as those vices that other people retain (sexual addiction is better than a pot addiction)---first notifier of ANY addiction!
- habitual
- health problems/dangers (STDs, AIDs, cancer, stress etc)
- it makes people adopt and abuse other ""drugs""

Of course it is (real)! Exactly why how is this any different than all the other coping mechanisms, or ""drugs"", which oh-too many hypocritically campaign against?
(rhetorical)

After all, sex can, does & has ruined many MANY lives just as quickly and as easily as crack, heroine, meth etc! As with any drug, it can consume one's life.

To me, life is all about moderation! One's inability to control their desire for something is what makes them the proverbial junkie!
ANYTHING, which can consume one's life to the point it makes you ignore others, can be a drug/addicting/problem!

Sadly, I remember stating this many years ago and many ""veterans"" of our industry, on many boards laughed and mocked me. As a matter of fact, it (people refusing to classify sex as a ""drug"") even happened here!