Sexual Addiction – Men and Women can be Addicted to Sex

Sexual Addiction | Sexual Fetishism | Transvestic Fetishism | Sexual Sadism | Exhibitionism | Voyeurism | Obscene Phone Call | Autoerotic Asphyxiation | Frotteurism | Deviant Sexuality

Sexual addiction is an intimacy disorder where a person has unusual high sex drive and engages in obsessive sexual behavior that is out of control. Individuals with this behavior usually suffered from feelings of depression, anxiety, worthlessness, and loneliness. They engage in unusual sexual behavior because it allows them to achieve sexual high that provide temporary relief from these negative feelings.

Individuals with sexual addiction do not admit they have problems and instead they blame others for their problems and somehow justified their unusual behavior. They also tend to engage in various forms of illegal sexual activity and these may include prostitution, exhibitionism, obscene phone call, voyeurism, sexual harrassment, child molesting, and rape.

They may also engage in compulsive masturbation, anonymous sex with multiple sexual partners, multiple affairs, excessive use of pornography, and practiced unsafe sex with the use of illegal drugs and alcohol. Research does not indicate people with sex addiction will become sex offenders and not all sex offenders are addicted to sex.

Sexual addictions are caused by number of factors and this may include child sexual abuse where the victim is sexually abuse as a child and the victim developed this behavior later in adolescent year. A child may grow up in normal family but exposed to pornography at very young age and develop the addiction by engaging in compulsive masturbation to pornography. A person who is abandoned as a child and deprived of love and affection may also develop the addiction later in life.

Individuals with sex addictions tend to live a secret life by engaging in unusual risky sexual behavior to provide comfort and relief from negative feelings and emotions that caused them great deal of pain. The relief they get from addiction is only temporary and the activity must be repeated again to provide another relief.

Overtime sex addicts may also need to engage in new sex acts that are more hardcore and degrading to achieve the desire relief. This behavior caused them to become selfish because they are only thinking about meeting their own needs at all cost including the risk of losing their relationship. They tend to feel shame and guilt after each sex act because they have no control over the behavior when engaging in risky and degrading sex act and they also feel ashamed letting others know about their unusual addiction.

Individuals addicted to sex usually start out with obsessive thoughts about certain sexual behavior and eventually they want to act out their sexual thoughts. They may go by the scene where they have previously performed unusual sex act to enhance sexual excitement and eventually acting out their sexual thoughts. When the sex act is complete and temporary relief has been achieved, sex addicts experienced more negative feelings which caused them to repeat the cycle again to achieve another relief.

Some research indicates this type of behavior is not an addiction but sexual compulsion suffered by individuals that cause them to experience feelings of shame, unworthiness, and loneliness. The negative feelings caused them great psychological pain and many turn to sex for comfort and to provide temporary relief but the repetitive sexual acts does more damage than good causing individuals to experience more compounding negative feelings.

Most sex addicts live in denial and blame others for their problems and before any types of treatment can begin first they have to admit and recognized they have problems and need help. There are several treatments to help individuals with sexual addiction and these may include individual counseling, family therapy, support groups, 12 step recovery programs, and medication used to suppress sexual appetite. Normally the addiction is caused by feeling of depression and in some cases treatment may include antidepressant medication.

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