There is nothing wrong with enjoying or desiring sex. It\’s a natural part of being human. However, this attraction may often become excessive, contributing to sex addiction or hypersexuality.
Being a sex addict entails more than simply having to have a bunch of sex. It, like other addictions, will interfere with a healthier lifestyle and damage relationships. Here\’s what it takes to be a sex abuser and how to get through it.
What is Sex Addiction?
Sex addiction is classified as a \”sexual condition\” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders. As a result, a sex abuser is more than simply a sex-obsessed individual who wants to get over it. He or she is a person who suffers from a mental illness.
Sexual addiction is described as “compulsive looking for several spouses, compulsive obsession on an unattainable spouse, compulsive masturbation, compulsive romantic affairs, and compulsive sexuality in a relationship,” according to the textbook.
Sex-addicted is more involved in the sexual act than in the individual with whom they are having sex. In a compulsive quest for more and more women, the human is reduced to an item and a means to an end.
Individuals, like most addictions, may grow a tolerance to pursue more and more sexual outlets to fulfill their desires.
The Consequences of Sex Addiction
Perhaps sexual addiction does not sound as harmful as, say, opioid or alcohol addiction. There is still controversy about whether a hypersexual condition can be classified as an illness or discussed in terms of addiction.
This debate stems from the idea that labeling hypersexuality as an illness may be humiliating and put sex in a moral light.
Regardless of if it is labeled as an illness, disease, or hypersexuality, it may be very devastating – not just for the individual affected, but also for the others around his or her life.
For starters, the abuser has an insatiable lust for his or her sexual pleasures and would devote endless hours and exorbitant sums of money to achieve them.
Committed and exclusive marriages, as well as other friendships and interactions, suffer as a result. Finally, a sex addict\’s quality of life suffers because previous activities and passions are no longer attractive in comparison to sex addiction.
Symptoms of a Sex Addiction
How can you know whether someone has a safe and strong libido or if they have a sexual addiction?
For sex abusers, sex is no longer about lust and intimacy; rather, it is a means to satisfy their addiction, which may be done by regular sex or through engaging in intense acts that are solely focused on the sexual act and give no consideration to the other individual concerned.
Five symptoms could signify sexual addiction, according to Kathryn Cunningham, director of the Center for Addiction Research at the University of Texas. They are as follows:
- Sex is at the forefront of an individual\’s existence and has taken the place of other activities.
- The person engages in a variety of sexual activities, including phone and machine activity, pornography, prostitutes, and exhibitionism.
- Masturbation is a common occurrence.
- Cheating and having several intimate partners
- Incest, kidnapping, harassment, and child molestation are examples of criminal acts.
Additional guidelines for sexual addiction have been proposed for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders, and if a person exhibits the following six habits within six months, these may also mean a sexual addiction.
- Sexual fantasies, impulses, and habits that are intense and recurring
- Day-to-day living is disrupted by fantasies, impulses, and habits.
- Sexual desires, impulses, and attitudes are used to cope with tension and unpleasant feelings.
- The individual is unable to regulate or maintain his or her desires and behaviors.
- The entity pursues his or her interests without respect for how they may affect other people.
- Because of the frequency and intensity of these sexual actions and feelings, they may trigger anxiety and disability.
Is Sex Addiction Primarily a Male Issue?
Some people falsely think that sex addiction is solely a male problem. And it\’s easy to understand why with foreign protests like #METOO and #NEVERAGAIN. After all, these protests have a voice for women to speak out about men\’s sexual harassment, rape, and crime.
However, both men and women may develop a sex addiction. In reality, studies indicate that one-third of sex addicts are women. These figures, though, do not imply that men and women perceive hypersexuality in the same manner.
Sex Addiction Differs Between Men and Women
Men usually stress about sex and objectify their partners. In brief, male sex users have none, if any, interpersonal bond. Women may do this as well, but it seems that people cultivate a sex obsession to have influence and influence over their lives.
Alternatively, they want sex to gain recognition and praise through their sexual experiences. Female sex addicts, in particular, are often characterized as having co-dependency problems and \”love addiction.\”
How to Get Rid of a Sex Addiction
Overcoming a sex addiction takes time, dedication, and, most significantly, clinical assistance. There are many places to seek help and treatment, and the following are the best options for those attempting to tackle sex addiction.
- Therapy and counseling
Counseling treatment enables the sex abuser to unpack social baggage that could have contributed to the sexual addiction. It also allows you to cope with past pain and intimacy problems that could be leading to your sex addiction.
The goal here is to cure the child so that he or she can no longer resort to sex to deal with deeper psychological issues.
- Programs for treatment
The goal of the best recovery facilities is to isolate the client from the addiction habits. They do this by developing a controlled living environment in which you are not constantly exposed to and have access to sexual stimuli.
Furthermore, recovery services assist patients in addressing underlying problems such as remorse, embarrassment, and depression.
- Twelve-step plans
Sexaholics Anonymous, including Alcoholics Anonymous, assists addicts with overcoming compulsive and harmful sexual habits.
- Friends of support
Sex abusers gather under the supervision of a healthcare provider to promote and facilitate each other\’s contribution to overcoming sex abuse, as well as to benefit from one another.
Living as a sex addict can be very stressful and isolating. They not only forfeit their rights, but they also lose the joy of having safe, romantic sex. They will, however, transcend sex addiction and recover with therapeutic assistance, love, and care.