What is sexual addiction?

1. What is sexualaddiction? Sexual addiction is a condition in which an individual cannot manage their sexual behavior. Persistent sexual thoughts affect their ability to work, maintain relationships, and fulfil their daily activities. Other terms for sexual addiction are sexual dependency, hypersexuality, and compulsive sexual behavior. It is also known as nymphomania in females and satyriasis inmen. While sexual addiction shares some features with substance addiction, the person is addicted to an activity, not a substance. Treatment may help, but without treatment, it may get worse. Frisco sex addiction therapista sex therapist can have a varied background and can be a psychiatrist, psychologist or a family or marriage therapist. A professional with any of these distinctions needs to have training in sexuality, but a sex therapist receives special training to further understand sexuality and the role it plays in mentalhealth.

2. An estimated 12 to 30 million people in the United States (U.S.) experience sexual addiction. It affects both men andwomen. • Fast facts on sexualaddiction • Sexual addiction prevents people from managing their sexual behavior. Why it happens isunclear. • It can have a severe impact on a person's life, but key bodies, such as the American Psychological Association (APA), have not yet established it as a diagnosable condition. • Typical behaviors include compulsive masturbation, persistent use of pornography, exhibitionism, voyeurism, extreme acts of lewd sex, and the failure to resist sexual impulses. • Treatment centers and self-help groups can help with sexualaddiction. • What is sexualaddiction? The American Society of Addiction Medicine describes addiction as "a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory, and relatedcircuitry." Sexual addiction is an inability to control sexual urges, leading to impaired relationships and quality oflife. A person with sexual addiction is obsessed with sex or has an abnormally intense sex drive. Their thoughts are dominated by sexual activity, to the point where this affectsother

3. activities and interactions. If these urges become uncontrollable, the person can have difficulty functioning in socialsituations. • In some cases, a person with a healthy and enjoyable sex life may develop an obsession. They may find themselves stimulated by acts and fantasies that most people do not consideracceptable. • In some cases, the person may have a paraphilic disorder, such as pedophilia. This is a diagnosabledisorder. • A paraphilic disorder involves sexual arousal caused by stimuli that most people do not find acceptable, for example pedophilia. It involves distress anddysfunction. • Sexual addiction has not been fully established as a medical condition, although it can adversely affect families, relationships, and lives. One difficulty with identifying sexual addiction is that people have different levels of sex drive, or libido. One person may consider their partner a "sex addict" only because they have a higher sexdrive. • More research is needed to determine whether or not sexual addiction exists as adisorder. • Symptoms • Some attempts to define the characteristics of sexual addiction have been based on literature about chemical dependency. Sexual addiction may share the same rewards systems and circuits in the brain as substanceaddiction. • However, people with sexual addiction may be addicted to different types of sexual behavior. This makes the condition harder to define. It also suggests that the disorder stems not from the individual acts, but rather an obsession with carrying themout. • Sexual addiction also appears to involve making rules to feel in control of the condition, and then breaking them to make newrules. • Activities associated with sexual addiction mayinclude: • compulsivemasturbation • multiple affairs, sexual partners, and one-nightstands • persistent use ofpornography • practicing unsafe sex • cybersex • visiting prostitutes or practicingprostitution • exhibitionism • voyeurism

4. Behaviors and attitudes mayinclude: • an inability to contain sexual urges and respect the boundaries of others involved in the sexual act • detachment, in which the sexual activity does not emotionally satisfy theindividual • obsession with attracting others, being in love, and starting new romances, often leading to a string ofrelationships • feelings of guilt andshame • an awareness that the urges are uncontrollable, in spite of financial, medical, or socialconsequences • a pattern of recurrent failure to resist impulses to engage in extreme acts of lewd sex • engagement in sexual behaviors for longer than intended, and to a greaterextent • several attempts to stop, reduce, or controlbehavior • excessive time and energy spent obtaining sex, being sexual, or recovering from a sexualexperience • giving up social, work-related, or recreational activities because of a sexual addiction • sexual rage disorder, where an individual becomes distressed, anxious, restless,and • possibly violent if unable to engage in theaddiction • Studies have demonstrated a strong link between alleged sexual addiction and risk-taking. Sexual addiction may cause a person to persist in taking risks even if there may be health consequences, such as sexually transmitted infection (STI), physical injury, or emotional consequences. • Complications • Untreated, compulsive sexual behavior can leave the individual with intense feelings of guilt and low self-esteem. Some patients may develop severe anxiety anddepression. • Other complications mayinclude: • family relationship problems and breakups • financialproblems • STIs • legal consquences, if the sexual act is illegal or publically disruptive, such as in exhibitionism • Causes • The causes of sexual addiction remainunclear.

5. Addiction takes root in the reward center of the brain. It may occur when certain parts of the brain mistake pleasure responses for survivalmechanisms. The midbrain is the section of the brain that handles the body's reward system and survival instincts. As sexual activity creates a rush of dopamine, the "feel-good" chemical in the brain, this triggers the feeling of pleasure. The midbrain then mistakes this feeling of pleasure as being central tosurvival. One possibility is that, in people with sexual addiction, the frontal cortex, or the brain's center of logic and morality, is impaired by themidbrain. Studies on rats have linked lesions of a section of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) with compulsive sexual behavior. This may shed some light the causes of hypersexuality in humans. Some studies have found a higher frequency of addictive sexual behavior in people from dysfunctional families. A person with sexual addiction is more likely to have been abused than otherpeople. A significant number of people recovering from sexual addiction have reported some type of addiction among family members. It can occur alongside anotheraddiction. Diagnosis Symptoms of sexual addiction may resemble those of other addictions, but the diagnostic criteria for sexual addiction remains in dispute. For this reason, there are different sets of criteria for diagnosing the condition. Hypersexuality is not a formal diagnosis, according to the American Psychiatric Association's (APA's) Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-V), due to a lack of evidence supporting its existence as acondition. However, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10)provides a category into which hypersexuality can fit: "F52.8: other sexual dysfunction not due to a substance or a known physiologicalcondition." Excessive sexual drive, nymphomania, and satyriasis are all included under thiscategory. The Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, suggested in a 2012 study that to in order for a sexual addiction to qualify as a mental health disorder, an individualmust:

6. "Experience repeated sexual fantasies, behaviors, and urges that last upwards of 6 months, and are not due to factors, such as medication, another medical condition, substance abuse, or manic episodes linked to bipolardisorder." • As more examples of sexual addiction and its consequences have emerged, the disorder has become more widely accepted as a legitimate mentalcondition. • Sexual addiction or advancedlibido? • One challenge is to distinguish sexual addiction from a high sexdrive. • Two key features can help health professionals to dothis: • consistent failure to control thebehavior • continuation of the behavior despite the harmcaused • A qualified psychiatric doctor will be able to distinguish between an advanced libido and a pattern of dependency on sexual stimulation or other paraphilic disorder that requires medicalattention. • Suggestedcriteria • At Life Works Recovery, through our training as sex therapists and sex addiction therapistswe bring extensive knowledge and understanding of sex — it’s place in healthy sexuality and courtship — and how it manifests in addiction as a compulsive force as well as in committed passion and intimate love as a healing and connectingforce. • We have specialized training and experience and we are Certified Sex Addiction Therapists (CSAT) because we are passionate about helping people heal. We understand what it means to be there. We want to help you and your loved ones heal. It’s what wedo. • Treatment

7. Addiction can be difficult to treat, as a person with an addiction will often rationalize and justify their behaviors and thought patterns. People with a sex addiction may deny there is aproblem. • Sexual addiction can be controlled by attending self-helpmeetings. • Current treatment options aim to reduce any excessive urges to engage in sexual relations and to encourage the nurturing of healthfulrelationships. • The following treatment options areavailable: • Self-help organizations, such as Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, Sexual Compulsives Anonymous, and Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, offer 12-step programs to help the individual in self-managing the condition. • Residential treatment programs are available for individuals with various addictive disorders. These are in-patient programs, during which the individual lives on-site at the facility and receives care from specializedtherapists. • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) provides a variety of techniques that help the individual change their behavior. CBT can equip a person to avoid relapses and reprogram harmful sexualbehaviors.

8. Prescription medications, such as Prozac, may be prescribed to reduce sexual urges, but the drug has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat this condition. • The support of friends and family is crucial for a person recovering from an addiction. Sexual addiction, due to its behavioral nature, can be difficult for others to understand and tolerate, especially if it has already led to damage inrelationships.