# Sex addiction. Is it real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-addiction-is-it-real/474645 "2008-11-27T02:10:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cider\_Depot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Cider\_Depot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cider_Depot)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-addiction-is-it-real/474645/1 "2008-11-27T02:10:52Z")
When your average Joe/Josephene Shmo gets busted for multiple extramarital dalliances, he/she is considered a rogue or a bitch or a whatever. But if shiny-toothed celebrity gets caught out, they are blameless, on account of their crippling _sex addiction_. I understand that hypersexuality is a defined behavioral condition. But there is no physiological dependence, so does this really classify as an addiction in _clinical terms_? Oh, and as above (but less sexy) for gambling addiction. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-addiction-is-it-real/474645/2 "2008-11-27T02:27:28Z")
Addiction isn’t just physiological; it can be psychological as well. The rush of orgasm is a powerful thing and for someone whose life is otherwise uninspiring at best and a mass of painful emotional turbulence at worst, those few seconds can make all the pain go away for a little while. Then, of course, the pain comes back… and it becomes harder to keep the rush going. The burgeoning addict looks for different, stronger (and darker) avenues until it the drive of that pursuit overshadows everything else; life _without_ that pursuit becomes meaningless in the sense that the addict can’t picture it. In short, just because celebrities (or their agents) use it as an excuse for being a horndog doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-addiction-is-it-real/474645/3 "2008-11-27T03:08:22Z")
Mental Health worker checking in. I have people present with the claim of, “I am a sex addict.” My usual response is how often do you masturbate? The most common answer is that the person never has to because so many people are available for sex. The next question is, “Have you ever been fired from a job?” If the answer is no, I will note that. “What do your friends think about you having all this sex?” If the response is anything other than I don’t really have any friends, I note that. “What do you do in your free time?” Unless the response is whack off or pick up sex partners, it is unremarkable. The thing is that many people, usually males, claim to be sex addicts and don’t understand what an addiction is. There are many different definitions of addiction, but I know what I use works for me. You have an addiction if it affects your OIL O-Occupation-If you can hold a job, may not be an addiction I-Interpersonal-If you can keep friends, may not be an addiction L-Leisure time-If you engage in hobbies other than your addiction, may not be an addiction. I am not saying that this is the hard and fast rule for addiction, but it has a good beat and I can dance to it. SSG Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-addiction-is-it-real/474645/4 "2008-11-27T05:30:15Z")
Here is a long ass [article](http://straight.com/article-170662/too-much-sex-brain)if you want to read about it. SSG Schwartz summed it up perfectly. If you want to stop, can’t, and it’s ruining your life, then you have an addiction. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-addiction-is-it-real/474645/5 "2008-11-27T05:39:20Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > Here is a long ass [article](http://straight.com/article-170662/too-much-sex-brain)if you want to read about it. > > SSG Schwartz summed it up perfectly. If you want to stop, can’t, and it’s ruining your life, then you have an addiction. Does there also, then, exist a condition that is somewhat short of addiction, that is recognized as a problem? If you want to stop, can’t, but it mostly isn’t ruining your life because you have so far been able to control socially unacceptable impulses? If you have no friends but have never been fired? I believe I know someone like that. Didn’t read the long-ass article, by the way. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Cider\_Depot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Cider\_Depot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cider_Depot)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-addiction-is-it-real/474645/6 "2008-11-27T05:57:59Z")
From the long-ass article: > [@](#): > > Sex addiction falls into a grey area when it comes to diagnosis. It doesn’t show up in the current edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the most trusted guide to psychiatric disorders, but it is being considered by a work group on non-substance-related addictions The article also makes a distinction between behavior-based sex addiction and nymphomania, which the article states is more chemically based, i.e. seeking endorphin rush. This is what I was loking for. Interesting stuff. Thanks for your comments. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-addiction-is-it-real/474645/7 "2008-11-27T06:54:18Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Does there also, then, exist a condition that is somewhat short of addiction, that is recognized as a problem? If you want to stop, can’t, but it mostly isn’t ruining your life because you have so far been able to control socially unacceptable impulses? If you have no friends but have never been fired? I believe I know someone like that. > > Didn’t read the long-ass article, by the way. > Roddy I don’t think classification depends on how much you ruin your life. Lets just say that if you don’t like what it’s doing with your life, but you still can’t stop, then it is an addiction. It doesn’t matter if it’s your professional or personal life.