SEX ADDICTION
- It consists of an obsessive-compulsive pattern of persistent and recurrent sexual behaviour that is beyond the individual's control.
- Recurrent behaviours may be in having sexual contact with other people, with sex workers, or through internet sex or the consumption of pornography. These behaviours have a clear compulsive component.
- Excessive preoccupation with sex-related issues, spending too much time on these issues to the detriment of other activities.
- It often causes significant distress to the sufferer and a deterioration in personal relationships, work or daily functioning.
The cause and treatment of sexual addiction is usually psychological. For most of these people, compulsive behaviour is just the tip of the iceberg of other problems that may lie behind and are channelled through sexuality.