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Tag: compulsive sexual behavior disorder

  • Sex Addiction May Affect More People Than Previously Thought

    Sex Addiction May Affect More People Than Previously Thought

    Researchers examined the rates of sexual compulsion between the genders for a new study on the prevalence of sex addiction.

    More people than previously thought could be dealing with sex addiction, or at least sexual compulsions, according to a new study.

    The research, published in the JAMA Open Network, found that 8.6% of Americans may struggle with compulsive sexual behavior, defined as “distress and impairment associated with having difficulty controlling one’s sexual feelings, urges, and behaviors.”

    Researchers surveyed 2,000 individuals representative of the U.S. population to get that number.

    Although sex addiction is frequently talked about in the media and there are 12-step groups dedicated to helping people recover from it, sex addiction is not actually a diagnosable condition, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

    However, for the study, researchers were interested in finding out how many people reported “failing to control one’s sexual feelings and behaviors in a way that causes substantial distress and/or impairment in functioning.”

    They acknowledged that the study might exaggerate the problem of sex addiction by labeling people with mild problems as being addicted, but pointed out that regardless, the study indicates that sexual compulsions are playing a big role in many people’s lives.

    “The high prevalence of this prominent feature associated with compulsive sexual behavior disorder has important implications for health care professionals and society,” they wrote. “Health care professionals should be alert to the high number of people who are distressed about their sexual behavior, carefully assess the nature of the problem within its sociocultural context, and find appropriate treatments for both men and women.”

    The team found that compulsive sexual thoughts affected both sexes more evenly than previously considered: While 10% of men reported having compulsive thoughts, 7% of women did as well, suggesting that 40% of people contending with this issue are female.

    “Gender differences were smaller than previously theorized, with 10.3% of men and 7% of women endorsing clinically relevant levels of distress and/or impairment associated with difficulty controlling sexual feelings, urges, and behavior,” researchers wrote.

    They theorized that women might be experiencing increasing rates of intrusive sexual thoughts: “Given recent cultural shifts toward becoming more permissive of female sexual expression and the proliferation in accessibility to sexual imagery and casual sex through the internet, software applications, and social media, one possible explanation for the smaller gender differences found in our study is that the prevalence of difficulty controlling sexual behaviors among women may be increasing,” study authors wrote.

    The study also found that compulsions were highest among people with less than a high school education, those with very high or very low income, racial and ethnic minorities, and people who identified as LGBTQ. The researchers called for further research into the social components of sex addiction.

    View the original article at thefix.com

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  • World Health Organization Adds Sex Addiction to Disease List

    World Health Organization Adds Sex Addiction to Disease List

    However, there is still some controversy among clinicians about whether it should be included.

    A new mental health disorder has been added to the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases list—compulsive sexual behavior disorder.

    According to CNN, the inclusion came in the June update of the list, which is called the ICD-11, and is the “foundational document that clinicians and scientists around the world use to identify and study health problems, injuries and causes of death.”

    The list states that compulsive sexual behavior disorder, also referred to as sex addiction, as “persistent pattern of failure to control intense, repetitive sexual impulses or urges resulting in repetitive sexual behaviour.”

    WHO states that the disorder has to do with a person’s sexual behavior becoming a “central focus” of their life to the point that it becomes detrimental to “health and personal care or other interests, activities and responsibilities.” The organization also states that in order to be classified as this disorder, a person must have been struggling with it for six months or more.

    Though WHO has included this disorder in its list, there is still some controversy among clinicians about whether it should be included, CNN states.

    Dr. Timothy Fong, clinical professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles, tells CNN that studying the disorder from an “academic perspective” is relatively recent.

    “For centuries, people have been trying to understand what is the cause of hypersexuality,” he said. “It has been called all sorts of names over the years, but it’s really only been in the last 40 years that we’ve tried to understand it from an academic perspective.”

    In 2006, CNN states, Fong authored a paper having to do with the scientific definitions of compulsive sexual behavior disorder and ways to potentially manage the disorder. He says some experts do not agree that the disorder can be classified as an addiction since no substance is abused.

    “Some people would say if it looks like an addiction and smells like an addiction and there are 12-step groups to help people with the addiction, then it is, but the psychological community is split into different camps,” Fong told CNN. “Some say it is addiction, and some of those say people just have different libidos.”

    Despite WHO’s inclusion of the disorder, CNN states there is no national data depicting how many people could have this disorder. It states that some regional and local data suggests it could be about 5 percent of the population, which Fong says means more people would struggle with this disorder than bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or pathological gambling.

    Robert Weiss, addiction specialist and author of “Sex Addiction 101” and “Always Turned On,” tells CNN that he is happy about WHO’s decision. Weiss says he has treated more than 1,000 people with compulsive sexual behavior disorder and success in treatment comes from addressing underlying problems and creating a healthier relationship with sex.

    “You don’t want to repress the desire. Sexuality is a part of being human, but you want to guide it,” Weiss told CNN.

    View the original article at thefix.com