Does sex addiction exist?

is sex addictive?

  • yes

    Votes: 8 66.7%

  • no

    Votes: 2 16.7%

  • i don't care, just give me more?

    Votes: 2 16.7%
  • Total voters
    12
  • Poll closed .
I don't think addiction is the most suitable word to describe the problem, but i do think that it exists. Like most things that bring pleasure sex causes the release of dopamine in the brain. Your brain can become dependant on high levels of a certain neurotransmitter, so if sex is the thing that keeps the feeling high then it does seem possible that you would have a strong drive to maintain that high. Just like gambling "addictions". They both light up the same part of the brain. Scientist cause rats to get addicted to their own dopamine levels all of the time. Since its more so psychological and not chemical there wouldn't really be any physical withdrawl signs. But whether it is an addiction or it isn't, its interfering with these people's lives and they want to change so why shouldn't someone be allowed to help?
 
lucifers angel said:
Lord Laidlaw of Rothiemay has admitted to receiving treatment for "sex addiction" at a private clinic, likening it to alcohol dependency. But is it really?

It's a term that first came to widespread attention when actor Michael Douglas was admitted to rehab in 1990 and it was reported - inaccurately, he later claimed - to be a sex addict.

More recently, comedian Russell Brand admitted to spending a week at a centre for sexual addiction in Philadelphia.

And earlier this year, relationship counselling service Relate said there had been a huge increase in the number of cases concerning sexual compulsive behaviour. THE ANSWER
Sex therapists would argue it is a real addiction with serious consequences
But others in psychiatry and psychotherapy argue it is not comparable to substance addiction and should not be classed as such

Now Lord Laidlaw, 65, says he has been fighting the "disease" for the whole of his adult life.

So are so-called sex addicts suffering from an illness or just making excuses for being unfaithful?

It's a very serious addiction, says Paula Hall, who runs a group therapy course for "sex addicts" in Warwickshire, and it's believed about one in 20 people suffer from it.

Although not a chemical addiction like alcohol or heroin, it's a "process addiction" like gambling, she says, with a biochemical element linked to the release of dopamine in the brain.

"It's a compulsive need to seek out and follow a certain type of sexual behaviour. That behaviour varies but it's basically an anaesthetising behaviour, something you are doing in order to avoid dealing with something else.

"It's a coping mechanism and it's totally and entirely out of control. You are continuing to pursue it in spite of the consequences, like losing your job, your status, your wife and your health." It's not really about sex. It's driven by shame

Paula Hall
Relationships counsellor

Addicts are usually men and they are of any age, she says, and from any background. The behaviour ranges from viewing online porn for a few hours a day, which is usually a starting point and then escalates, to visiting prostitutes at every opportunity.

"It's a way of escaping from low self-esteem, feelings of anger and insecurity. It's not really about sex. It's driven by shame.

"You feel about yourself and one way to stop feeling bad about yourself is to do something nice, but afterwards you feel even worse about yourself."

'Greed'

The difference between having an addiction and merely having a high sex drive is the level of compulsion, "disappearing into their own bubble and running away from the world", she says, and there's evidence that's it in the genes. WHO, WHAT, WHY?

A regular part of the BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer some of the questions behind the headlines

But Phillip Hodson, fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, says the term "addiction" is not appropriate for this behaviour, which would be better described as obsessive, compulsive or even greedy.

Some very successful men have a habit of thinking they can get away with anything, especially behaviour they view as exciting, he says.

"Sexual addiction is a relatively recent American, jargonized category of personality behaviour.

"It uses a medical model - 'I'm an addict, I've got an illness and need a 12-step programme.' But I don't buy into it."
Heroin withdrawal induces physical pain


There's a difference in responding to your own adrenaline rush - which some people may receive from a passion for golf or Celine Dion - and craving a substance your body is addicted to.

If everything was resting on it, then a sex obsessive would not walk over the abyss but a real addict would, says Mr Hodson. Substance addiction stops the body's natural production of opiates, thus inducing "cold turkey" which has a physical pain akin to old age.

What some may describe as sex addiction does not stand up when applied to the proper definition of the word, says Glenn Wilson of the Institution of Psychiatry.

"The original idea of addiction was that you had a chemical hijacking of the circuits of the brain built to give you pleasure as reward for doing things of a survival value, such as eating or having sex."

After continued use, cocaine or cigarettes are capable of acquiring survival value for the individual concerned, he says.

"But to turn round and argue that one is addicted to chocolate or sex, which are activities you would expect to be rewarded in survival terms, strikes me as hijacking the concept of addiction.

"It's a way that people signal to the world that they think they have a problem and need to break it."

But they are no different from anyone else, he says, because we all have sexual drives which can get us into trouble without inhibition or control.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7371171.stm
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Sex addiction in my eyes, is certainly influenced by porn, and easy sex for money. The more we have of something, the more we love it. I certainly love my porn, and can be a right horny shit sometimes.
 
cosmictraveler said:
I only say that for those who really want to get help not those who want to remain screwed up, that's their right of course.;)
Click to expand...

How do you decide who is screwed up ? Are so many sessions a week allowed beyond which one is regarded as screwed up ?
 
If a person is sexually abused as a child and it taught to use their body for power and approval, wouldn't sex just be the tool they use to feel wanted? if the only way you can relate to others is through sex, it would be what you do. Some people drink to be able to talk to others and I guess some would just sleep with them.
 
LA firstly the definition of an adiction is something that you cant control and that interfears with your life.

If fucking 24 times a day doesnt interfear with yours or your partners lives then thats fine but if it does then its an adiction.

And yes i belive its quite possable to be adicted to sex just like its possable to be adicted to pokies or working out because all these activites cause an acute jump in nerotransmiters with give the person a "high" (just the same way morphine does out of interest).

They have done studies on gambling adicts which show the same reactions in the brain as a heroin adict shows and futher more narloxin (the antidote to narcotics) has been shown to have an effect in damping the pleasure gained from adictive behavior not only in nicotine adicts but also in gambling adicts and other behavoraly adictive people.
 
99% of humans are addicted to sex. 'Love' is just a cute cover up for what people really want: sex

Sex makes the world go around. It reboots/rejuvenates the system.

A relationship can only last for a limited time, because it runs out of energy, so it will... break up. Babies are born from sex so that the relationships would last longer. (The same with sexual relationships with God: after having 'sex', the Christians are 'reborn' as a child of God.)
 
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Yorda your wrong there. There is a difference between liking to do something and an adiction. Take achole for example, lots of people drink but there are only a compartivly small number of acholics. This is because something only becomes an adiction where there is a compulsion to have it AND where it interfears with your regular life. In the case of a sexual relationship in most cases its not interfearing with the way they want there lives. However if you needed sex 20 times a day that would be interfearing in your life (and probably damaging to your body as well). If you couldnt control who you slept with (by this i dont mean that you sleep around but as soon as your done you regret it everytime but cant stop yourself doing it) then thats an adiction.
 
wow that was a logical argument. Come on john, give some evidence or at least argue a case
 
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