Our friends over at Shave Magazine posted an interesting article today written by Dr. Debra Laino. It outlines 10 warning signs that you are a sex addict. Take a look. See whether you fit the bill and even if you think sexual addiction is a real disease (I happen to believe it’s just as real as an addiction to drugs or booze, but I’ll leave that to you to figure out):
- Leading double life
- Difficulty in personal relationships
- Guilt
- Obsessively seeking out sexual material
- Seeking out risky behaviors/adventures
- Getting in trouble with the law
- Overwhelming Euphoria with sex followed by intense negative feelings
- Intrusive sex
- Fantasy sex
- Not being responsible with sex
To read the article go here.
—Photo via AllAboutAddiction.com
The debates about whether sex addiction is real almost always stem from lack of information on the subject matter, though I agree it’s always a good idea to try concepts on to see if they resonate, especially regarding sexual matters. Despite the surge in articles that seek to debunk sex addiction as a myth (oh would that that were true) most articles are not using good research and data, all of which has been done extensively, mostly by recovering addicts themselves who then went on to get degrees in that field. Read anything by Dr. Patrick Carnes, himself a recovering… Read more »
Sex addiction is definitely real. There some who are so compulsive with sex it definitely ruins their lives. I think the problem is where to set the boundary between sex addiction and healthy sexuality. Sexuality can be a gift. But there can be a problem with overly heteronormative, restrictive models of normal behavior. Currently the normative model is, in my opinion, overly restrictive.
I attended S.A.A. (Sex Addicts Annon.) meetings for over 5 years sometimes 3 or 4 nights a week. I learned a lot about the 12 step program as it is based upon the AA model except members are not expected to give up sex permanently, just to eliminate the problems which are stated at the beginning of your article. There were people of every walk of life in the groups and were very unhappy with “not being captains of their own ship” in my opinion. Others were wearing ankle bracelets and were on probation. I believe that sex-addition exists as… Read more »