October 18, 2012 | Sex Life

Sex addiction defined

While the term "sex addiction" has been bandied about for years to describe individuals who become so fixed on sex that they mess up the rest of their lives, it has never been recognized officially as a disorder in and of itself. That could change by next spring when the shrink's bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, is up for its next revision.  

Following a rigorous California study of individuals who believe themselves to be  sex addicts, psychiatrists formulated a list of  symptoms that would have to be exhibited for someone to be diagnosed as having "hypersexual disorder." He would have to:  
 
- experience recurrent and intense sexual fantasies, sexual urges and sexual behavior lasting at least six months.
 
- seek excessive amounts of sex, frequently as a means of coping with stress. 
 
- allow sex to interfere with the ability to perform a job or maintain social and/or familial relationships. 
 
- display a genuine inability to control sexual urges, even in situations where the urges might cause significant problems or harm such as job loss, relationship problems or financial difficulties.
 
In addition, the sexual fantasies, urges and behaviors must not be brought on by drugs, alcohol or another mental disorder. 
 
The study’s results were published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine and submitted to the American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the DSM.  One of the main benefits of classifying hypersexual behavior as a disorder would be to allow sex addicts to seek treatment just as alcoholics and drug addicts do. 

Scientists define sex addiction [YNOT
 

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