CHAPTER TWO: WHAT IS SEXUAL ADDICTION?
This chapter explores aberrant sexual behaviors that share common characteristics and consequences.
The following are representative examples of the definition of sexual addiction. The Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (2014) defined sexual addiction as a “persistent and escalating pattern or patterns of sexual behaviors acted out despite increasingly negative consequences to self or others” (screen 2).
Ferree (2010) defined sexual addiction as an “intimacy disorder.” Sex is the most intimate of connections between a man and woman but childhood experiences may serve to sever relational intimacy and substitute a false intimacy based on the primacy of getting their sexual needs met (p.72).
Sex Addicts Anonymous (SSA, 2014) defined sex addition by presenting characteristics.
• Powerlessness over addictive sexual behavior.
• Results in
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Obsession means to be “intensely and abnormally preoccupied with something. The object of obsession is all consuming” (Ferree, 2010, p. 48). The obsession of a sexually addicted person is to experience multiple acting out opportunities. As such, the addict focuses attention on addictive behavior to the detriment of other healthy activities. Left unchecked, an addict dedicates much time to the behaviors that give significant pleasure or temporarily shields him or her from social or mental health deficiencies (Ferree, 2010, pp. 48, 144).
An addict is obsessed with achieving greater sexual satisfaction each time s/he repeats the four phases of the sex addiction cycle (See Exercise Six). Randy’s story. After my wife goes to bed for the night, I spend hours viewing explicit and tantalizing images. I search for the perfect image that matches my unique mental concept of perfection. However, my continual searches never meet with success. Each successive image, while stimulating, never satisfies
There are many different definitions in which people provide regarding addiction. May (1988) describes that addiction “is a state of compulsion, obsession, or preoccupation that enslaves a person’s will and desire” (p. 14). Individuals who suffer from addiction provide their time and energy toward other things that are not healthy and safe. The book
Addiction /ə-ˈdik-shən, a-/ noun 1. A strong and harmful need to regularly have something (such as a drug) or do something (such as gamble), 2. An unusually great interest in something or a need to do or have something (Addiction). Addiction can cause a person to sabotage their lives in order to get their next fix, whether that be scoring another gram of coke or a double with cheese, a large fry, and a large soda. Addicts are stuck in a constant cycle of getting cravings, going through with their ritual, using, experiencing guilt, and being emotionally triggered, thus bringing them back to the beginning. Now, most people when they hear the word “addiction”, the first thing that comes to their mind is drugs. However, if a vast majority of individuals
Hyper Sexual addiction is a disorder that can be defined as a person having a habitually elevated sex drive, fantasies, and urges. Nevertheless, compared to other sexual addictions, this could be known as one of the most riskiest and dangerous addiction. Hyper Sexual Addiction has become more prevalent because of the infidelities amongst some celebrities and political figures. Sexual addiction has always existed, but because of technology and social media, people have become more aware of it. People who suffer from this disorder are like drug addicts that crave drugs; they think they can stop, but the urges are constantly there. According to An Elements Behavioral Health article (2016), for the sex addict, sexual activity provides an intense,
Medicalization describes the shift in authority concerning abnormal human conditions. Quirks previously seen as by-products of maturation began to see heavy examination and were classified under medical terms. As a result, the past few decades have seen an obscene number of compulsions and disorders deemed medical conditions, further exacerbating the unnecessary institutionalization of many harmless irregularities. This string coincides with the growing popularity of sex addiction and the debate over its inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The mere thought of such a neurotic desire potentially joining the DSM alongside major mental and learning disorders epitomizes the depths to which society has sunk in recognition of truly straining abnormalities. The medicalization of sex addiction demonstrates the lengths at which medical authority will go to inject another fabricated disease into the blood of society.
It is imperative for a counselor to identify these qualities and know how to navigate an addict through these phases. Addiction has psychological, neurological, and spiritual elements that are important to understand in order to provide quality counseling. Psychologically, an individual suffering from addiction will often practice various methods of self-deception: denial & repression, rationalization, hiding, delaying tactics, breakdown, and collusion. Habits are formed in three stages. During stage one, a person learns that a specific behavior either provides pleasure or pain relief. Stage two is when a person actively seeks the effects of that behavior in everyday life, causing the formation of the habit. Finally, in stage three, a person is now dependent on the effect of the behavior and develops feelings of distress when the behavior and feeling are not easily
Kemp describes that addiction often arises through a pursuit of pleasure, or to reduce pain. (Kemp, 2009a). The addict seeks to avoid the world, often living a narrow set of relations to the world and those in it. (Kemp, 2011).
Addiction is an extremely complex, moreover, controversial issue that has affected the many lives of individuals for ages. Addiction is comprised of biological, physiological, psychological, and social components that articulate behavior related to addictive behavior. Although, there are some that will not acknowledge their repetitive behavior as addictive, they
Sex is a beautiful thing that happens between two people, but sometimes sex can become addictive, and like with any other addiction, it can ruin lives. Patricia is in her mid-thirties, and to those who know her, she is a soccer mom with a successful career. But after her marriage ended due to her husband’s affair, Patricia became insecure, and started exploring dating sites on the internet – soon, Patricia was going on dates, sex dates - and in an interview with the Philadelphia Weekly, she admits that she is addicted to sex, and there is a problem. The American Psychiatric Association and Diagnostic (APAD) and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) don’t recognize the abuse of sex as an addiction. Although not recognize as an addiction, the abuse of sex has the same qualities as drug addiction and should be recognized as a medical condition.
Addiction is defined simply as a strong and harmful need to regularly have something (such as drugs) or do something like gambling (Addiction, 2016). Addiction can be crippling and can control all aspects of your life to the point of not being able to function as a productive member of society. Addicts can have a life long struggle, even once sober, or clean, from the addiction.
Main Point: What defines an addiction? According to Psychology Today, “Addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance…. or engages in an activity….that can be pleasurable but the continued use/act of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work, relationships, or health.” This can range anywhere from drug use to eating disorders, to gambling, to even texting in today’s generation. Shocking to say the least, especially when most people do not even know they are addicted or are an addict until they realize this definition.
Addiction is a very strong word that brings along many negative connotations. When we think of an addiction we imagine someone who depends on a certain substance, most likely alcohol to have their needs met. Addiction is defined by the Webster dictionary as, "a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal." Even though our society sees addiction and only applies the word to drug addicts and alcoholics, there is a much wider range of subjects that fall under the umbrella of what an addiction truly is. An addiction is a dependency on any kind of materialistic object that you use on a day to day basis that brings
Addiction, a compulsive psychological need for a habit-forming substance according to an online dictionary (p). In this instance, the substance is sex or masturbation. A sex addict needs progressively more and more explicit pornographic material in order to become aroused. Their behavior becomes centered on different sexual experiences and the desire to attain them. The person cannot control their sexual appetites resulting in severe consequences for themselves and others. Sex addiction is a lifelong problem that needs to be contained in order to avoid continued complications. Shame, secretiveness, and abusiveness in a person accompany the addiction. Treatment is available in different forms; however, because this subject is relatively new a cure is not known. An important question is arising around this subject is whether or not sex addiction results from nature or nurture.
Sexual addictions of any kind can continue to progress in stages that may include child pornography, violence and pain, prostitution, rape and even serial killing. The overexposure of sexual imagery is creating a tolerance not only to the images presented but also to the crimes that go along the continuous craving for more and more extreme pornographic material to satisfy a sexual need. The key here is that people are after more and more sex, not a sexual relationship. The relationship part is gone and sadly, people just want to live the moment, satisfy a sexual need and walk away without any regard to the damage they might cause.
The ranges of sexually addictive behaviors are various. Sexual addictive behaviors include, but are not limited to compulsive masturbation, multiple affairs, unsafe sex, sexual anorexia, multiple or anonymous partners, pornography viewing, phone or cybersex, voyeurism, and exhibitionism (National, Sex). Despite the differences in the acting out behaviors, sexual addictions all have the same common denominator in their origins and aspects in relation to their developments. Thus, the underlying causes are the same.
It is difficult to define a porn-addict without laying down boundaries that have been previously forbidden, so this paper will use the simple definition of “one who views pornography on a regular basis, and either suffers from or regrets his or her actions.