Sex addiction, causes and symptoms

Sexual dependence can involve a wide variety of behaviors. Sometimes an addict has problems with a single unwanted behavior, sometimes with several.

Contents

• What is sex addiction?
• Signs of sexual dependence
• Addictions parallel to sexual dependence
  • Erotic phone addiction
  • Cybersex addiction (sexual intercourse over the internet)
• Predisposing factors for sexual addiction
• Why does someone become a sex addict?
  • A. Biological hypothesis:
  • B. Psychological hypothesis:
  • What is the difference between a person with a strong sex drive and one with a sexual addiction?
  • Can someone become addicted to masturbation?
  • What role does pornography play in sexual addiction?
  • Can someone be a sex addict and not have sex with their partner?
• Treatment of sex addiction

What is sex addiction?

A large number of sex addicts say that their unhealthy use of sex has been a progressive process. It usually begins with an addiction to masturbation, pornography (print or electronic), or in a relationship, but has progressed over time to include increasingly dangerous behaviors.

The essence of all dependence is the total lack of control over a compulsive behavior that leads the addict to an unmanageable life. The addicted person is out of control and feels shame, pain, and self-hatred. That person may want to stop, but repeatedly fails to do so. The lack of ability to manage their own life can be evidenced in the consequences suffered by addicts: lost relationships, difficulties at work, arrests / detentions, financial problems, loss of interest in non-sexual matters, lack of self-esteem and a feeling of despair.

Preoccupation with sexuality takes up tremendous amounts of energy. The behaviors they carry out range from "dating", searching for pornography on the Internet or taking walks in the park in search of sporadic sexual relations. When one "acts" there is a total denial of emotions usually followed by despair and shame, or there is a feeling of confusion and a total lack of hope..

Signs of sexual dependence

We will define sex addiction as any sexual behavior in which the individual experiences:

• Lost of control.
• Abstinence syndrome.
• Strong psychological dependence.
• Loss of interest in other activities.

Other characteristics of sex addiction are:

• A strong desire with an inability to control it.
• Frequent preoccupation with sexuality.
• You have more sexual behaviors than you want.
• Much of the time spent seeking sexual activity.
• Restlessness or irritability if the behavior cannot be performed.
• Cognitive distortions: "No one will love me as I am", "My needs will never be met if I have to depend on others", "Sex is my most important need", "I am a bad and unworthy person", "I will always be alone or I will feel alone ”,“ My body is shameful, defective or repulsive ”.

Addictions parallel to sexual dependence

Within the addiction to sex we will have to contemplate two other addictions that are closely related, and that present the following differential characteristics:

Erotic phone addiction

• Great environmental availability.
• Total privacy to carry out the behavior.
• Immediate reinforcement.
• Control perception.
• Strong emotional tension and psychophysiological activation.

Cybersex addiction (sexual intercourse over the internet)

• Sleep deprivation.
• Abandonment of obligations and hobbies.
• Reproaches due to the use of the network.
• Constant thoughts on the Internet.
• Inability to control oneself.
• Psychomotor agitation.
• Anxiety.
• Obsessive thoughts.
• Fantasies or dreams.
• Typing ticks.

Predisposing factors for sexual addiction

Among the predisposing factors to sex addiction are:

• Dysphoric mood.
• Intolerance to unpleasant stimuli.
• Impulsiveness.
• Stimulation search.

Why does someone become a sex addict?

There are two hypotheses that would explain why people become sex addicts:

A. Biological hypothesis:

The sex addict conditions his body to receive certain neurotransmitter discharges (dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine), through the process of reinforcing sexual behaviors or fantasies with orgasm, which causes these to be released in the brain causing pleasure and euphoria.

B. Psychological hypothesis:

People with low self-esteem who seek in sex an escape from a personal, social and emotional situation that they do not like; these behaviors are very common when the person has suffered sexual abuse.

What is the difference between a person with a strong sex drive and one with a sexual addiction?

The difference would be the need. A person with a strong sexual impulse is fully attracted to sex, but if for some reason he cannot practice it, he does not seek satisfaction at any price in an uncontrolled way, but has a greater degree of self-control.

Can someone become addicted to masturbation?

Yes. It would always be the first behavior to become a sex addiction, and the first to become an uncontrolled habit..

What role does pornography play in sexual addiction?

Pornography combined with masturbation constitutes one of the cornerstones of dysfunction. Fantasy porn creates an unreal world that the addict visits and often causes them not to have relationships with a real person.

Can someone be a sex addict and not have sex with their partner?

Yes. Some psychologists call this sexual anorexia. In this stage of sexual addiction, the addict prefers to be immersed in his own world of sexual fantasies, than to have relationships with his partner.

Treatment of sex addiction

In the treatment of any type of addiction, phases are proposed that consist of the following stages: evaluation, treatment and follow-up.

In turn, within the treatment, six phases are distinguished: detoxification or maintenance; psychological cessation or achievement of abstinence from the substance or stop doing the behavior; normalization, change of previous lifestyle and search for new alternative goals to addiction; relapse prevention; maintenance program or short, medium and long term support program; and, where necessary, harm reduction programs.

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