Another riveting debate on the truth of addictions :HYPERSEXUALITY ?By Kathleen Masterson
march 5, 2010The proposed hypersexual disorder would be categorized alongside other sexual disorders,
such as fetishistic disorder and exhibitionistic disorder.
Criteria for hypersexual disorder would include spending a lot of time consumed by
sexual fantasies and repetitively engaging in these sexual fantasies in response to
stress, anxiety, boredom or depression. The person also makes repeated but unsuccessful
attempts to control the behavior, and engages in the behavior disregarding the risk of
physical or emotional harm for himself or others. And, to be diagnosed with hypersexuality, this behavior would have to cause the person
significant distress or impairment.
That last criterion is the kicker --
the person needs to present with "clinically significant personal distress." And how do you measure that --
as opposed to say, a politician who is caught sleeping with another woman and blames a sex addiction?
Drawing the line between guilty indiscretions and an actual mental disorder has a lot of the public skeptical. "It's not often a condition you can tell from afar," says Kafka. "The only way to know if it's a
moral excuse or a real disorder takes knowing the person, the extent of the behaviors, have
they tried to control it, what risks have they taken."
Typically, when a new mental disorder gets added into the DSM, its inclusion stimulates a
good deal of research on the topic. If accepted, the new definition could help garner more
scientific attention.
History:Sex addiction, nymphomania or sexual compulsion might sound like the stuff of novels or
over-hyped celebrity angst. Yet excessive sexual behaviors have been documented for over
two centuries in American medical literature.
In fact, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush, wrote about
it in his book Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind, the first
textbook of mental illness in the U.S.
Rush wrote that sexual appetite, "when excessive, becomes a disease both of the body and mind."
He also concluded that "promiscuous intercourse with the female sex" or excessive masturbation
could cause impotence, dyspepsia, vertigo, dimness of sight, memory loss, and even death.
(He didn't mention the risk of political downfall, loss of sponsorships, or inescapable media obsession.)
Still, even though excessive sexual behavior has been described for a long time, it has yet to be
officially recognized by the psychiatrists' bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
Instead, the category resides in the book's appendix.
Subject: Sex Addiction: A Disease Or An Excuse? 
Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:16 pm
