Jobs, family, friends and personal wellness are sacrificed as the individual ritualistically endeavors to recapture the erotic haze of sexual euphoria again and again. The price of their intense preoccupation with sex is often marital strife or loss of a partner, decreased productivity on the job, and emotional abandonment of their children. I also hear my patients frequently rating their sexual behaviors as immoral, weird, disgusting actions that fill them with shame and self-contempt. Words I hear from my patients are: loss of self-regard, despair, loneliness, frustration, guilt, anger, and self-hatred. As dependence on the behavior progresses, they typically experience emotional states that duplicate those of people addicted to substances. People with sex addiction use sex just as those addicted to drugs or alcohol use substances: as an anesthetizer that allows them to escape painful realities and as a way to regulate their moods whenever they feel stress or anxiety. They achieve entry into the erotic haze through obsessive, highly ritualized sexual behavior. Intoxicated with the euphoria and rush of their own brain chemicals, particularly dopamine, their addiction is not really to sex, but rather to the intense state of sexual arousal (“the erotic haze”) that is an instant mood changer. , empty affairs, frequent visits to prostitutes, voyeurism, and the like. They repeatedly and compulsively try to connect with others through highly impersonal, non-intimate behaviors: masturbation People with symptoms of sexual addiction are generally afraid of truly intimate relationships. The world is seen through a sexualized lens and the quest to duplicate the “rush” of sexual euphoria, over and over again, becomes an obsession. Those with sexual addiction, however, find little pleasure or gratification in doing anything else. However, a person who is not addicted to sex, no matter how much or how often he enjoys sex, can also have fun and find pleasure engaging in other relationships and activities. The incredible rush of sexual pleasure a person feels during orgasm is indeed intoxicating. Sex addiction is not defined by the amount or type of sexual activity involved, but by the particular relationship the person has to compulsive sexual experiences.Īnyone who has ever experienced an orgasm knows the tremendous power of sex.
The New York Center for Sex and Love Addiction Treatment
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