Sexual Addiction

Sexual addiction (sometimes called sex addiction) is a conceptual model devised in order to provide a scientific explanation for sexual urges, behaviors, or thoughts that appear extreme in frequency or feel out of one's control—in terms of being a literal addiction to sexual activity. This phenomenon is not newly described in the literature, but it has been described by many different terms: hypersexuality, erotomania, nymphomania, satyriasis, Don Juanism, Don Juanitaism, and, most recently, sexual addiction, compulsive sexual behaviour, and paraphilia-related disorders. Someone who did much to popularise the concept of compulsive sexual behaviour as an addiction was Patrick Carnes. It was his book that was published in 1983 and activated interest in the construct of sexual addiction.

Hypersexuality is often associated with addictive or obsessive personalities, escapism, psychological disorders, low self-esteem, self-destructive behavior, lowered sexual inhibitions and behavioral conditioning. Alcohol, hormonal imbalance and change of life hormone levels (puberty, adulthood, middle age, menopause, seniors), behavior modification, operant conditioning and many drugs affect a person's social and sexual inhibitions, while reducing integral human bonding abilities for intimacy. Addiction is the state of behavior outside the boundaries of social norms which reduces an individual's ability to function efficiently in general routine aspects of life or develop healthy relationships. Medical studies and related opinions vary among professional psychologists, sociologists, clinical sexologists and other specialists on sexual addiction as a medical physiological and psychological addiction, or representative of a psychological/psychiatric condition at all.