Nothing sexy about sex addiction

Almost everyone can agree that there is just something about sex; we're obsessed.
As a society, we devote so much of our time to sex, we are thinking, reading and talking about sex all the time. But when someone is revealed as actually being sex obsessed, like being identified as a sex addict, we are suddenly very anxious to draw the lines of separation between them and ourselves. After all, we may be obsessed but we are by no means addicted.
While many girls would readily make the joke that they have had more than one boyfriend who was a sex addict - it is actually not a joking matter; but rather, a disorder that is becoming increasingly more valid among the mental health community and is being considered parallel to other addictions such as substance abuse or gambling.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders still does not recognize sex addiction as a legitimate disorder, yet the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health estimates that between three and five per cent of Americans have it and they identify that it is 10 times more likely to occur in men than women.
Despite its pervasiveness across the globe, sex addiction has long been stigmatized as not being a 'real' disorder. However, within the last year it has become fashionable to be a sex addict.
Sexual addiction has always been a disease born and raised in Hollywood, with sufferers including Michael Douglas, Woody Harrelson and Rob Lowe. Most recently, David Duchovny admitted to being a sex addict, and everyone drew the unironic parallels between his real life issues and the sexual habits portrayed by his character on the show Californication. Robert Downey Jr. also recently admitted in an interview that for years he was a compulsive masturbator.
Along those same lines, the film Choke, which is based on the book of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk, is calling attention to sexual addiction issues, and making it even more hip to be an addict.
Yet, in reality, there is absolutely no Hollywood glamour to being a sex addict. The world of sex addiction includes being addicted to porn, masturbating over 20 times a day and even having multiple anonymous partners in the course of one night of partying. The label encapsulates a series of behaviours that ultimately ruin relationships.
Since young people typically live a life of excesses - a lot of caffeine, shopping, junk food, exercise, drinking, and yes, sex - it is only logical that they could be at risk for developing habits early on that could lead to more dangerous problems later on. These excesses also make it easy to sit back and look at your roommate who picks a different girl up at the bar every weekend, and accuse him of being a sex addict.
However, it is important to realize that there is a key difference between promiscuity and sexual addiction. Your roommate may be happy regaling you with stories about the casual sex she had last night, but for sex addicts the sex is not happy sex. Like any addiction the behaviour is merely the process to get to the big payoff at the end, which for sex addicts is the usually the release of chemicals in the brain that one experiences during climax.
Many people have started a new relationship and during that lovely honeymoon phase, have found themselves having sex with their partner non-stop. And when it comes to sexuality, it is very easy to fall into the trap as viewing yourself or your sexual habits as abnormal. But ultimately, there are four main characteristics that identify a sex addiction. First, the sex or the preoccupation with sex is compulsive, it is not a choice - it feels out of control and pursued in spite of the harm it may cause to the individual and those they love. Second, attempts to change it or moderate it fail and third, it serves a psychological function for the individually. And finally, it is problematic for the individual.
The fourth characteristic is probably the most important because it addresses the old adage, "It's only a problem if it's a problem".
Treatment options are available, and like any addiction, they involve rehab, therapy and ideally working the 12-step program.
In the end, while the celebrity of sex addiction may cause many people to unnecessarily question their own sexual habits - as well as causing many teenage boys to wish they could meet a female sex addict - ultimately the more attention that the issue is given the more likely it is to become a legitimate disorder in the medical field.
I hope that Duchovny will be able to successfully overcome his issues, not only because it would be good press for the sexual addiction disorder, but also because I would hate for Californication to be a casualty of it. Call me sex obsessed if you want, but a show about a sex addict makes for good television.