Is Sex an Addiction? By: Kelly Dawald Minnesota State University Moorhead
Brief Overview Addiction Sex Addiction Two Sides of Debate Evaluation of Sides Conclusion
What is Addiction? Definition of addiction according to the DSM-III-R (Goodman, 1990) – Powerlessness & Unmanageability Webster’s Definition of addiction (2006) – Psychological or physiological dependence on anything; a compulsion. Permanent Disorder of the Brain (Psychology Today, 2004)
What is Sex Addiction? Sexual activity that goes beyond normal practices to point of losing control (Ewald, 2003) Consequences Addicted to neuro-chemical changes
Sexual Addiction 15 million people affected in U.S. (Carnes) Characteristics of sex addiction ( – Sex is shameful – Sex is a secret (e.g. Pastors) – Sexual behavior is abusive Stems from an unhealthy childhood (Ewald, 2003)
Sexual Addiction (Cont’d) Narcissistic Personality (Birchard, 2004) – Carried into adulthood – Try to find ways to reduce pain, may turn into an addiction Why addicted to sex? – Preoccupation with sex – Prevalence of sex in childhood
Sexual Addiction (Cont’d) Narcissistic Personality Disorder (DSM- IV-TR) – Need for admiration – Fantasies – Interpersonally exploitative – Arrogant behaviors
Addiction Cycle Four Stage Cycle (Hall, 2006) – Preoccupation Stage – Ritualization Stage – Engaging in Sexual Act – Despair – Repeat…
Media and the Internet Sex is everywhere (Longo-Disse, 2006) Sex sells! Accessibility to sex on internet – 4.2 million porn sites, 12% of all websites (Hall, 2006) “Virtual Cheating” (Daneback et al., 2006)
DSM-IV-TR Dependence Criteria for dependence (Hagedorn & Juhnke, 2005) – Certain drugs listed don’t have any physiological dependence – 3 of 7 criteria has to be met – Tolerance and withdrawal not essential
‘Sex Addiction’ Evaluation Stems from childhood Means of coping with psychological pain Definition of addiction Narcissistic Personality traits Sex can be related to substances that are actually diagnosed as dependence
Labeling Perspective Mental illnesses are culturally constructed because of ideas that deviate from the norm (Levine & Troiden, 1988) Nominal Fallacy: give something a name to understand it – Circular Reasoning
Explanation for Mental Disorders Constructed by health professionals to create order in society (Levine & Troiden, 1988) Placing stigmatizing labels to behaviors out of the norm Feel better about the unknown when it has a name – Sense of understanding
Addiction Affected by certain primary factors (Peele, 2000) – Cultural Social & Ethnic Factors – Situational Traumatic, Developmental, & Ritualistic Factors – Cognitive Beliefs & Social Learning – Values Stable & Evolving Values
‘Sex is not an Addiction’ Evaluation Mental disorders are socially constructed Created to enforce conformity in society Addiction is based off of your values
Conclusion Still a heated debate Sex as an addiction has more scientific reasoning Discussion of including sexual addiction and compulsivity into DSM-V (Delmonico, 2005) Additional research needed
THE END Thank You Questions?