Sexual Addiction

I think with most things it's perception. You can label it anyway you want but if a person puts anything above sensible needs like eating and mortgages or family time then it is a perceived problem for that person whether science has surety on it or not.

It sounds to me that you are just splitting hairs.

If you have 9 million people whose lives have been shattered and marriages destroyed and jobs lost because of their obsession with sex then what do you want to call it if not an addiction?

There is a definite problem with sex with some people who cannot get enough and whatever you choose to call the condition is secondary.

Maybe you're secretly a sex addict yourself and your argument is simply your own denial or else you just like to argue.

Fast Gunn, look at what you're saying! If you believe that "most" of any group qualifies as something, it cannot by definition be pathological! It's not the "precise" definition that's in question; these fake "therapists" are inventing a syndrome that doesn't exist. And those people aren't "faking symptoms", they're being convinced they have problems when they don't. If I make up a bunch of criteria then define it as a "pathology", I can draw those lines wherever I want to include as many people as I want, but that doesn't make it real.

Most so-called "sex addicts" are neurotic people who are using sex to take their minds off of their real problems, and that isn't at all the same as an "addiction". And the rest of them are just normal men who have been convinced by sex-phobic American society that there's something "wrong" with them when in reality they are acting exactly as Nature designed them to act. You might as well call a cat "cruel".
Originally Posted by AngelOK

Why don't we just call it a problem then lol. Now...see how easy that was.

Regardless of why people use sex as a crutch, it's still a freaking problem. Nature did not intend for us to go out and be as careless or as wreckless as we are with sex...period! We convinced ourselves of that so we could feel better about doing it. AIDS didn't just happen because only faithful couples were having sex now did it? Thancks.

Most serious clinicians don't believe that there is any such thing as sex addiction. It was considered and rejected as a diagnosis for the on going revisions of the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). If a sexual fixation disrupts one's life sufficiently, some clinicians will list it under Sexual Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, but even that very much is up in the air.

If you're actually interested in some of the real science, rather than pop psychology, here is a brief interview that is unfortunately very superficial, but will acquaint you with the issues.

http://life.salon.com/2011/11/29/don...ddiction_hype/

And AngelOK, for the record, the quote that you except is actually from the Salon.com article I have posted. It was quoted, with proper attribution, by Honest Courtesan in her commentary on this subject. I doubt you meant to mislead, but one might infer from your quote that she wrote what you excerpted, whereas in her blog, she was careful to attribute it to the actual author, David Ley, a clinical psychologist in Albuquerque, NM who has published widely on this topic. Originally Posted by TexTushHog

I think the clinicians may consider it symptomatic of a more pernicious issue in the DSM. August is when I came into this hobby. I was absolutely consumed with everything sex and saw two providers within hours of each other one day. I only slept an hour or two a night and the buzsaw was just working away in my head. I was in an acute hypo-manic phase of my bi-polar spectrum disorder. For some there are always the "compulsions" which are fueled by an underlying "disorder," eating, not eating, drinking, spending gambling etc.
My situation is anecdotal, but now that I take a therapeutic dose of my med, this leaves the compulsion at bay.

Did someone say sex? Please say my vote was anonymous!

There is a definite problem with sex with some people who cannot get enough and whatever you choose to call the condition is secondary. Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

No,the problem is not with sex; it's with people who use it or anything else as a crutch. You are singling sex out as a pathology when in reality obsession is obsession is obsession.

Maybe you're secretly a sex addict yourself and your argument is simply your own denial or else you just like to argue. Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

Ah, the last defense of the appeal to emotion without factual basis for his arguments, the ad hominem. This is a golden oldie: "anyone who would defend a commie must be a commie", or even "anyone who would defend a witch must herself be a witch!" You have revealed the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of your position for everyone to see, so there is nothing more for me to say.

Yes, SnL, we are discussing sex.

And yes, your vote was anonymous, but I think we all know for certain where you stand on the issue now that you've let the cat out of the bag, you little fire cracker!

. . . Not that it was such a really big secret anyway!

Did someone say sex? Please say my vote was anonymous! Originally Posted by Sweet N Little

Yes Most sex addicts will argue the fact that they're not a sex addict. They're usually in denial.

I'm not gonna lose my house and car or start pawning my belongings to hobby, but I'm addicted to pussy. Since I had my first hit at the age of 15 all I ever wanted was more pussy. I think women are the most lovely beings in creation. A beautiful woman is like a living work of art to me. I love sex. I love everything about it. The foreplay, flirting, being teased, porn, you name it. Sex and sexuality is a beautiful thing. If everyone around the world would relax and truly enjoy each others bodies maybe the world wouldn't be so fucked up. Originally Posted by clitlicker7

Ditto

There are a helluva alot of things I'd give up before I'd give up sex.

. . . As the old joke goes, "denial, ain't just a river in Egypt, baby!"

Yes Most sex addicts will argue the fact that they're not a sex addict. They're usually in denial. Originally Posted by ZarahAdams

. . . As the old joke goes, "denial, ain't just a river in Egypt, baby!"

Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

I want to ride on that boat, so why group it in the bad category when it feels so good? It's so close to love...the utimate thing of what we all want

Yes Most sex addicts will argue the fact that they're not a sex addict. They're usually in denial. Originally Posted by ZarahAdams

I deny that!!!

Nothing wrong with loving the thing you want the most... as long as you don't get it at the expense of all else...

Nothing wrong with loving the thing you want the most... as long as you don't get it at the expense of all else... Originally Posted by Eccie Addict

Word!

I do find it ironic how the phrase, "I love sex but would not lose my house over it" was used though. If you are married and your wife finds out, you're gonna lose a hell of a lot more than that!

I may not be a sex addict, but I do fuel myself on the thrill of meeting new men and doing naughty things with them. One man can never quench my erotic thirst - so I would say I have a problem not an addiction because it does not consume my thoughts 24 hrs a day.