Brief description
- Description: behavioral addiction, excessive, compulsive sexual activity despite negative consequences.
- Symptoms: constant sexual fantasies, excessive porn film consumption, frequent masturbation, constantly changing sexual partners, lack of satisfaction, search for the “kick”
- Causes: Conditioning of the brain’s reward center, impaired impulse control, risk factors include loneliness, low self-esteem, family conflicts
- Diagnosis: criteria include uncontrollable sexual desire, psychological withdrawal symptoms, development of tolerance, loss of interests, endangerment of relationships, job, training
- Treatment: outpatient behavioral therapy, behavioral therapy individual sessions, sometimes also group sessions
- Prognosis: with therapeutic help, control over sexual life can be regained.
Sex addiction: Description
The term sex addiction appears again and again in the tabloid press in connection with allegedly sex-addicted celebrities. But whether a person is just very sexually active or actually a sex addict is often not easy to decide. How many times a day or week someone has sex plays a secondary role.
Loss of control
Creeping onset
Sex addiction begins insidiously – like any other addiction. As the addiction grows, it restricts personal freedom. If it remains untreated over a longer period of time, it can even change the personality and even the health suffers in the long run from sex addiction.
Similar to an alcohol or drug addict, the short-term high during sex compensates for an inner emptiness, boredom, fears or self-doubt – but only for a short time. Often, the intense feeling of pleasure diminishes over time. Those affected never feel properly satisfied. As a result, they increase their sexual activity and they need sex more and more often and usually more and more intense.
Nymphomania and satyriasis
Sex addiction in women is also called nymphomania. The corresponding term for sex addiction in men is satyriasis. However, since the terms are used colloquially and blurred and are also associated with negative ideas and prejudices, they are no longer used in a professional context.
Longing for normality
Sex addiction: symptoms
Even a high frequency of sexual activity is not proof of sex addiction. The decisive factor is that sex is practiced compulsively and to a problematic extent despite negative consequences.
Thoughts constantly revolve around the topic of sex. Those affected can no longer control their sexual behavior and neglect their tasks and other interests. Job and private life and especially the partnership suffer from the compulsively practiced sex.
Symptoms that typically occur with hypersexuality are, for example:
- debauched sexual fantasies, which partly keep away from work and everyday obligations
- often watching pornographic movies for several hours a day
- frequent masturbation
- constantly changing sexual partners
- lack of satisfaction, search for the “kick
- disturbed social behavior and loss of reality (e.g. aggressive behavior towards people who do not correspond to their aesthetic sensibilities)
Psychological withdrawal symptoms
Unlike substance-related addictions such as alcoholism, hypersexuals do not suffer from physical withdrawal symptoms. However, psychological withdrawal symptoms such as restlessness, nervousness, and irritability do occur and are severe enough to repeatedly undermine the decision to change.
Sex addiction: therapy
The goal of hypersexuality therapy is to regain control over sexual behavior and thus curb destructive effects of sex addiction.
Behavioral therapy for sex addiction
With behavioral therapy support, sufferers learn to control their sexual impulses. Therapy takes the form of one-on-one therapeutic sessions and group therapy sessions. Self-help groups on the subject of sexual addiction can also help to overcome such an addiction, but are usually not sufficient as a stand-alone measure.
In therapy, those affected find out what role sex plays for them as a means of addiction – for example, raising self-esteem, covering up inner emptiness, coping with fears – and how they can achieve this in other ways. Those affected learn to accept and endure feelings, to perceive themselves more positively and to improve their self-confidence.
Sexual abstinence is not the goal
Sex addiction: Diagnosis
The line between a normal, strongly developed sex drive and compulsive sexual behavior, is difficult. Crucial to the diagnosis of hypersexuality is:
- Loss of control over sexual acts and fantasies
- inability to change behavior despite negative consequences for oneself and others, e.g. in partnership, social or professional environment
- high expenditure of time on sexual acts and fantasies
- psychological withdrawal symptoms during sexual abstinence such as restlessness and irritability
- suffering pressure due to sexuality that is difficult to control
For a diagnosis of hypersexuality, the problems must have existed for at least six months.
Sex addiction test
Various tests are offered on the Internet that can give an indication of a possible problem. However, they cannot replace a professional diagnosis.
The sex addiction tests contain questions such as.
- about the space that sexuality occupies in your life
- the risks you take in order to have sex
- problems that your active sex life has already caused you
- the number of sexual partners
- the use of pornography
- your masturbation behavior
Sex addiction: Causes
Sex as a drug: Good sex activates the reward center in the brain, similar to what drugs like alcohol or cocaine can do. In particular, when sex is used to escape negative feelings such as self-doubt, inner emptiness, or worry, people are more likely to slip into sex addiction.
Sexual abuse: people who have been sexually abused often have a disturbed relationship with sexuality. Some develop hypersexuality in this context.
Impaired impulse control: Impaired impulse control causes a person to have difficulty putting aside the satisfaction of immediate needs. This can include the sex drive.
Sex availability on the Internet: Porn and potential sexual partners are uncomplicated, anonymous, and always available on the Internet. Inhibition thresholds and shame thresholds also seem to be lower on the net – the urge can be satisfied immediately, without further obligations and without major feelings of guilt.
Mental illness: Hypersexual behavior can develop in the context of an obsessive-compulsive disorder or mania.
Physical illness: Some physical illnesses can cause hypersexuality, such as a tumor in the adrenal cortex.
Genetic predisposition: As with substance-related addictions such as alcoholism, behavioral addictions are also partly genetically bit-based.
Drug use: drug use, especially cocaine, can cause sex addiction.
Prognosis
The treatment of sex addiction is a long process. However, those who get involved have a good chance of regaining control over their love life. It is difficult to overcome sex addiction without professional support.
Negative consequences of sex addiction
Sex addiction can have a number of negative consequences.
Difficulties in the partnership: constantly pressuring the partner to have coitus, imposing sexual practices or especially side leaps put a considerable strain on a partnership.
Professional difficulties: When everything revolves around sex, those affected neglect their duties. It can also quickly become problematic if the sex addiction is acted out at the workplace, sexual harassment of colleagues, porn consumption during working hours, etc.
Criminal offenses: Sex addiction can also lead to criminal behavior, for example in the form of voyeurism or sexual assault.
Self-rejection: those who fail to get their sex addiction under control often suffer from feelings of failure, self-reproach, and even self-hatred.
Money problems: Some lose their jobs because of inappropriate sexual behavior. Others spend a lot of money on prostitutes.
