Are you sexually addicted?

Sex addiction is a popular way to tell someone is hypersexual or has extremely frequent sexual urges, behaviors or thoughts. This conception is a bit problematic since there is no real consensus among doctors whether the hyper sexuality falls in a realm of an actual addiction or even a psychiatric condition. However, it becomes severely compulsive and disrupts normal everyday life, one should consider seeking medical help to overcome sexual impulsivity. Moreover, this pattern of behavior is often associated with known medical conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and manic-depression. Sex addicts may often engage in different forms of sexual activity, even if it may be very dangerous and associated with severe risks.

Signs and symptoms of sex addiction

To find out whether you may be sexually addicted, take a look at this brief list of signs and symptoms associated with compulsive hypersexualtity. Generally, sexual addiction is diagnosed based on the characteristic pattern defined by two key features: a patient fails to control its own behavior and continues to behave in the same way even if he or she knows all about the associated risks. Patients often fail to resist their impulses and often engage in sexual behaviors to a greater extent and over a longer period of time. At the same time, patients feel the strong desire to stop, reduce and control these behaviors. Instead of managing to do it, they often spend a lot of time having sex, thinking about sex or simply recovering from sexual experience. These people often fail to fulfill their normal occupational, academic, domestic, or social obligations, because they engage in sex, instead of following this routine. Very often they are extremely distressed, anxious, restless or even violent because they feel losing control over their life. Other behaviors associated with sexual addiction include: compulsive masturbation, extra martial affairs, one-night stands, frequent use of pornography, cybersex, phone sex, prostitution, exhibitionism, obsessive dating, voyeurism, stalking, and even molestation or rape.

Treatment for sexual addiction

There are a lot of groups that help people affected by sex addiction. Some of them are Sexaholics Anonymous, Sexual Compulsives Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, and Sexual Recovery Anonymous. They are based on the "twelve step" treatment program, which is also used in treatment of alcoholism. Patients may also benefit from education about healthy sexuality, counseling, and family therapy. Sometimes, their obsessive-compulsive disorder is treated with the help of medicines including Prozac and Anafranil.