Kristen Simonetti (Edison) Sex addiction

According to the National Council on Sexual Addiction Compulsivity an estimated 6-8% of Americans are sex addicts, which are roughly 18-24 million people. Sexual addiction is used to describe the behavior of a person who has an unusually intense sex drive or an obsession with sex.  Sex and the thought of sex tend to dominate the sex addict’s thinking, which then makes it difficult to work or engage in a healthy personal relationship. If more and more people are coming out with this addiction, will it start to be more acceptable in society? If so, will this have to become a topic of discussion when you first start dating someone to avoid the shock when you find out your partner has been unfaithful?

            Some psychologists and sociologists disagree on whether sex addiction is real or not.  According to the Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, sexual addiction is not listed. Why? Sociologists, Martin P Levine and Richard Troiden argue that simply shifting societal values are the main reason to blame. They believe the sex addict theory amounts to “transforming sin into sickness”  Levine said self-help groups like Sex Addicts Anonymous and Sexaholics Anonymous simply try “to shut down the sexual behavior and not deal with the underlying problem” for those who are unhappy because their frequent sexual behavior violates moral standards. “It used to be that people said, `The devil made me do this.’ Now they say, `My disease made me do this.’ If you enter the role of being a sick person, you’re not responsible for the behavior.”     

Levine and Troiden have some really good points of view on their feelings of sex addiction, but it seems that this addiction is growing. There are many treatment facilities around the country that offer a 12 step program which prohibits them from sexual stimulants (ex. porn) form 90 days, the same amount of time it typically takes for the brain chemicals to stop craving and the body to undergo withdrawls.  Just like alcoholics and drug addicts are instructed to never have a drink or get high again, sex addicts are prohibited from self – gratification. They are to focus on having making sex more of an emotional experience with a loving partner, rather than just for pure sexual gratification.

Now that celebrities are coming out with this addiction after being caught being unfaithful (ie, Tiger Woods, David Duchovny). Are more and more people going to start using that as an excuse like Levine mentioned earlier? Michael Douglas reportedly has a signed prenup with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones that includes a $5 million “straying free” should he sleep with someone other than his wife. I’m curious to see which way our society will go about opening up with their spouses on this issue.

http://ils.unc.edu/~viles/172i/users/big/docs/AP881031-0282

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/30/earlyshow/health/main4400786.shtml

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/02/20/2550891/sex-poiu-opiu-opiu-opui-opiu-ipui.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35464930/ns/health-sexual_health/#storyContinued

http://www.myaddiction.com/education/articles/sex_statistics.html

http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/sexual-addiction

This entry was posted on 4. March 2010 at 20:08 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.