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Tiger Woods is the latest celeb to trundle off to sex rehab following the public exposure of an affair (see also: David Duchovny), and his exile has everyone asking: Is sex addiction a legitimate diagnosis, or is Tiger just doing what most of us would do if we were rich athletes with relaxed morals?
Just the facts: According to the Mayo clinic, sex addiction affects about 3 to 6 percent of American adults.
Sex addicts are often unable to control their desire, even in the most inappropriate of situations. The pursuit of sex can hurt their families, careers and finances (think: Eliot Spitzer), not to mention their health and safety. For addicts, sex is often followed by feelings of shame and despair.
The clinic even offers up a neurochemical that may be to blame: Say the doctors, increased levels of phenylethylamine (PEA) -- the same brain agent that makes you feel so blissful when you're in love -- are often found in addicts, which may play a role in their pursuit of physical gratification.
As with many mental diseases, early experiences can set the stage for behaviors that become compulsive. For example, admitted sex addict Russell Brand claims his father took him to a prostitute at a young age.
Our question: Is sex addiction a bona fide disorder, curable after a stay at a clinic designed to treat it -- or merely a way for philandering men to pay lip service to their outraged wives?
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Friday 22 January
By greeneyeddancer1
It's not just men that are sex addicts,I know a few women that are/were and have lost alot in their lives .It is real and goes along with other addictions such as food,drugs,alcohol.ect...people with addictive natures tend to fall into addictive behaviors.It is also an addiction that can kill you and be harmful to your health like the above mentioned because of std's and the risks of rape and predators alike.
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Friday 22 January
By Anonymous
Those who discount sex addiction are like those who discounted alcoholism 50 years ago. It is real and it does meet the specific definition of addiction. Given the availability of pornography via the internet, the nature of addicts to lie and the ability of an addict to "get drunk" on pornography without any visible symptoms, sexual addiction is going to explode over the next 20 years to make other addiction appear insignificant.
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Saturday 23 January
By jess
Philandering men? Women can also suffer from sex addiction.
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Friday 22 January
By Brad
Sex Addict ? are you F'en kidding me ? This is a lameo excuse to avoid the responsibility of simply being a cheating S O B. I'd like to see the look on the Judges face if some poor average shmuck uses this excuse in court. All this is, is another way for celebrities to avoid answering for their own actions.
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Tuesday 26 January
By chowalee
good lord men are PATHETIC. I mean, a sex addict? thats not even a good excuse.. Lets face it, guys just can't keep it in their pants so they need something to sound good.. I had a friend tell me once her boyfriend always cheated on him b/c he had a medical disorder where he couldn't say "no"... HAHAHAH. god men are pathetic.
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Saturday 06 February
By oneyearmonk.typepad.com
Of course it's real. If people find themselves wrecking their lives over sex then it's real. I mean, what does that question even mean? Should it have a name?
If we accept the idea that people should go to therapy from time to time, it seems to me that any time someone does a lot of self-destructive things and feels out of control, then they do need therapy. If sex seems to be the root of it, then that's what they ought to talk about and that would seem to suggest that sex addiction is real.
People put too much stock in words. Words represent a series of phenomena we can observe. Are those phenomena all the "same thing"? Is that what it takes to make them real.
"Is sex addiction real"? It's a meaningless question.
http://oneyearmonk.typepad.com/
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Tuesday 23 February
By monica msteven
Sexual addiction is generally defined as a compulsion to look for sex dating at any cost. It can accept any form of sexual activity, compulsive masturbation, relations of order, to pay for sex. I have read this interesting story about sex addiction blog here:
http://ping.fm/M92vu :)
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Tuesday 02 March
By Susan
Sexual obsessive/compulsive disorder is characterized as an addiction, somewhat like drugs or alcohol. The more that person feeds into the addiction, the worse it gets. The only time they will ever go for help, is when they get caught, loose their marriage, or multiple arrests. The most serious of this disorder, is when they molest, or rape. I find it very difficult, that someone would endanger themselves, or others, to seek instant gratification. Most of these people, when they do decide to marry, think that their impulses will subside, and they will be normal. .
They live a double life for years, and eventually get caught.
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Thursday 15 April
By michael
An excuse for what? Why does it have to be an excuse for anything. An addiction is an addiction. Is alcoholism an excuse? One could argue that if one knew what the excuse actually was. What if a spouse can't stop having sex with prostitutes anymore than an alcoholic can't stop drinking. Who is in the crock pot the husband or the wife. Are they both full of it?
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