Posted under Sex Addiction

Sex Addiction Placed Alongside Substance, Food, Gambling Addictions

Sex addiction can include several different types of behavior, ranging from sexual encounters with multiple partners outside a marriage to excessive online pornography use. Definitions of sexual addiction continue to remain a source of debate, but medical news articles have highlighted the term as part of larger addiction-focused conferences. This shift in thought – placing sex addiction within the context of other addictions and within the context of being brain-based – may reflect new ways of thinking about and treating sexual addiction.
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Posted under Media Portrayals

Sex Addict Is New Role for Actress Gwyneth Paltrow

Recent media headlines surrounding celebrities and sexual addiction are taking a different twist with the announcement that well-known actress Gwyneth Paltrow will portray a sex addict in the movie "Thanks for Sharing." Continue Reading

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Increasing Numbers of Women Admitting Pornography Addiction

Pornography addiction doesn’t just destroy the lives and families of males. A 2006 report in the Internet Filter Review said that for every ten women, around six may view pornography and 17 percent may be addicted.

More women are admitting to viewing Internet pornography as a way to escape restless feelings, anxiousness or to combat boredom, and more are becoming addicted in what was once stereotyped as a male problem. In a recent article from the U.K. Mail & Guardian, a 21-year old woman described almost missing a job interview so she could view a saved pornographic clip on her computer. Continue Reading

Posted under Sex Addiction

Dealing with Your Partner’s Sexual Addiction

Maybe the discovery that your spouse or partner has a sexual addiction comes as a shock, or perhaps you knew or suspected it for some time. Either way, the knowledge rocks your relationship in a profound and devastating manner. You may try to ignore it, hoping it will go away, that somehow it’s not true, and that nothing will change between the two of you. All are natural first inclinations – and all are just delaying the inevitable. You have to find some way to deal with your partner’s sexual addiction. The question is: how? Continue Reading

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Should You Stay or Should You Go When Your Sexually Addicted Partner Refuses to Change

Everyone knows that marriages or partnerships have their ups and downs. Even the language in traditional wedding vows includes the phrases “for better or for worse,” and “’til death do us part.” Most people don’t expect the worse to include things like addiction, especially sexual addiction. Once you discover, or suspect, that your partner is a sexual addict or has a sexual compulsion – including having extramarital affairs, that’s a gut-wrenching feeling. You may think you can never recover from it fully. Naturally, you want things to go back to the way they were before the addiction. But what if your partner refuses to change? Should you stay or should you go? Continue Reading

Posted under Sex Addiction

Coping with Sexual Addiction Urges

No one has to tell you what a sexual addiction urge is. If you have a sexual addiction, you probably experience it all too frequently. But it may be helpful to know that an urge (or craving) is a state of tension and anticipation that you experience as a desire for the specific activity. It’s also, as sexual addicts well know, uncomfortable – sometimes almost unbearably so. The longer the urge lasts, the worse it gets. Due to the immediate relief you feel once you act upon the urge, the likelihood increases that you’ll act on the urge again. In other words, the urge to engage in a sexually compulsive or addictive behavior, once acted upon, satisfies the urge – but only for a while before the scenario is repeated. Sometimes urges are acted on out of habit. Although these may be unconscious reactions, once you try to stop the behavior, the urges return with a vengeance. Continue Reading

Posted under Sex Addiction

Addicted to Love

Is there really such a thing as a love addiction? If we say someone is addicted to love, what does that mean? Remember the classic Robert Palmer song, “Addicted to Love,” released in 1986? With lyrics that describe sweats, shakes, tight throat, inability to breathe, one-track mind, can’t get enough, oblivion being all that you need and, of course, the unforgettable refrain that you “Might as well face it, you’re addicted to love…” – could these be hallmark signs that someone has an addiction? If so, is it love or something else? Continue Reading

Posted under Celebrity Addiction

Actor Russell Brand’s Struggle with Drugs and Sex Addiction

British actor and comedian Russell Brand, who hosted the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and gained notoriety in the US for his role as a womanizing rock star in the film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” is best known for his often outlandish behavior, including pulling his pants down in public, dressing up as Osama bin Laden on September 12, 2001, and, most recently, a controversial on-air phone prank that got him booted from his position as host of a BBC radio show.

When speaking to Terry Gross of NPR, Brand admitted that his past antics were often a result of his drug use. Having been sober for seven years, much of that is behind him. But he still finds himself in inappropriate situations, such as a recent incident where he presented actress Helen Mirren with a pair of his dirty underwear. Continue Reading

Posted under Sex Addiction

The Basics of Sex Addiction

Just like alcoholism or drug addiction, sex addiction—or compulsive sexual behavior—is a disorder. As in all addictions, the behaviors become intensified over time and can lead to damaged relationships and other negative consequences. Some sex addicts use pornography or masturbate excessively, while others take part in illegal acts like voyeurism, exhibitionism, and even rape.

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Ten Warning Signs of Sex Addiction

With more celebrities than ever making news due to sex addiction, many people are starting to wonder what exactly this new psychiatric disorder is – and how to know the symptoms of sex addiction. After all, sex is arguably enjoyed by a majority of the population; so how can professionals differentiate between an enjoyment of sex and an actual disorder that has the potential to ruin lives and destroy important relationships?
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