Sexual addictions

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Sexual addiction occurs when an individual loses the ability to refrain from a sexual behaviour or activity when they would prefer to abstain.

Commonly amongst persons entering puberty, sexual experimentation will commence with solo masturbation, but it may also involve sexual activity with a partner of some sort. Parents, schools and churches caution young people about the harmful effects of sexual behaviour, for example, an unwanted pregnancy, or an STD. When people find it pleasurable but forbidden, they are torn whenever tempted to engage.

When a person looses the ability to abstain, and repeatedly returns to the activity against their higher level wishes, they will find that the short term pleaure becomes outweighed by negative feelings such as guilt. If the craving for sexual gratification then continues to overpower the wish to refrain, so that the person repeatedly violates their own decision to abstain, they have become addicted.

These are behavioural addictions as opposed to substance addictions. Although it involves a pleasurable activity which is under many circumstances neither forbidden nor harmful, if the person wishes to refrain but can not, he/she is addicted.

Usually the wish to refrain will arise from the internal source of the conscience, which may have been trained by external voices, or it may arise from external sources such as seeing the harm brought by the activity to persons other than the addict, for example a spouse in the case of adultery, or where a person finds their activity socially unacceptable and is ostracized.

Contents

1 Examples of potentially addictive sexual behaviours

2 Remedies

3 See also

4 External Links

Examples of potentially addictive sexual behaviours

Repeatedly forming new relationships and breaking them off

Sexual intimacy with consenting adults

Reading and viewing bona fide material for a happier sex life

Masturbating

Viewing pornography

Casual sex presented as a developing romance

'Virtual' sex, for example phone sex, 'cyber sex'

Swinging, group sex and unsafe sex

Commercial sexual massages and copulation

Rape, sexual harrassment, sexual assault, incest

Sexual activity that offends or hurts one's partner

Cheating on one's partner

Paedophilia, child abuse, beastiality

Remedies

Many low profile support groups exist to assist free of charge or for a nominal fee, persons who have realized they have such an addiction. There are also fee-charging professional practitioners offering services to assist as well. They can be found by using an search engine, or local directory. However most of the providers exist in developed and economically advantaged areas. Some support organizations operate according to the formulae applied to substance addictions. So the system known as Alcoholics Anonymous is adapted to fit organizations assisting with sexual addictions.

For pornography addicts there are software systems available that expose activity to a selected individual who has agreed to help the addict. Secrecy often adds to the addictive nature of behavioural addictions, so revealing all unwanted activity to a confidant or professional service can lead to recovery.

External Links

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