Although the term can be joked, sex addiction is a psychological problem that can have serious consequences on the lives and social relationships of those who suffer from it. For this reason, a team of psychologists and psychiatrists at the University of California have formulated a list ofcriteria for diagnosing the so-called ‘hypersexual disorder’as one more type of mental health disorder.
Some of the symptoms that sex addicts experience include a repeated pattern of sexual fantasies and resorting to sexual activity in response to unpleasant moods such as stress or depression. Furthermore, these individuals are unsuccessful in their attempts to reduce or stop their sexual activity when they realize that it is problematic. “Many people use sex from time to time to escape stress, this is normal. The problem is that for these patients it is a constant behavior, which intensifies to such an extent thatsexual desire controls all aspects of their lives, and also feel powerless in their efforts to change it “, explains Rory Reid, one of the authors of the work, which is published in the magazineJournal of Sexual Medicine.
The researchers tested the effectiveness of their criteria in diagnosing sexual addictions in more than 200 people with different mental health problems, and they were able to correctly diagnose 88 percent of the patients. In addition, they found that the majority of individuals with hypersexual disorder suffered the consequences of their disease:17 percent had lost their job at least once, 39 percent had ended a romantic relationship, and 28 percent had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. “People with symptoms of the disease experience the sequelae in their daily lives,” explains Reid. Hypersexual behavior is associated with increased emotional disturbance, impulsivity, and an inability to handle stress. “
The results also revealed that 54 percent of those affected had noticed having abnormal sexual behavior before the age of 18, and 30 percent had confirmed it during college, between 18 and 25 years. In addition, the most repeated behaviors among the patients included masturbation and excessive use of pornography, followed by consensual sex and cybersex. These people had relationships with sex workers and repeated encounters with anonymous partners, with an average of 15 sexual partners in the last 12 months.
The authors intend to include hypersexual disorder in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), considered the ‘bible’ of psychiatry.
