Is There any Substance in “Sex Addiction” Diagnosis? Researchers Struggle to Reconcile “Compulsive Sexual Behaviors” and “Addiction”

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The term "sex addiction" has long been used to describe out-of-control sexual behavior. But is it an accurate term to express the tendency to go all naked and make out to any person within sight? More to the point, is "sex addiction" really a case of "addiction?"

Researchers have long been studying this strange behavioral pattern. "Sex addiction" has been called compulsive sexual behaviors, hypersexuality, hypersexual disorder, or even nymphomania. According to the Mayo Clinic, the symptoms of "sex addiction" vary but usually include having intense sexual impulses that a person cannot control.

But basically, all these terms are used to describe an obsession or a compulsion to have sex. However, in a clinical sense, "sex addiction" doesn't seem to fit the well-establish standard medical definition for "addiction" when compared to substance addiction or alcohol addiction.

According to Professor Eli Coleman, Director and Chair of the University of Minnesota Program in Human Sexuality, the term "sex addiction" is misleading. The professor laments that "'sex addiction' is widely used as a metaphor for out-of-control sexual behavior" and that the more precise term should be compulsive sexual behavior or CSB.

In 2013, CBS News reported a UCLA study that seemingly proves that "sex addiction" is not a real disorder. The researchers at UCLA scanned the brains of self-reported sex addicts to monitor their response when viewing sexual pictures. The study concludes that the measured brain response is not indicative of addiction.

However, most experts still agree that CSB exists and it can be problematic. In a study published in the journal Psychiatry MMC, the researchers find that CSB is similar to other well-documented compulsive disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder.

The Mayo Clinic further defines CSB as an obsession with sexual thoughts, urges, or behaviors that have a negative impact on the health, job, and relationship of the "sex addict." But is it really just a fancy word for "sex addiction?"

Professor Eli Coleman, in a recently completed study, suggests that the brain mechanisms behind CSB do not fit the standardized "addiction" model. According to Dr.Coleman, "People can abstain from alcohol and drugs to help with the connection between the substance and the receptors in the brain, but people can't abstain from sex."

Real or not, "sex addiction" or CSB can disrupt a life of a person. The only course for "sex addicts" is to allow themselves to be treated. Dr. Coleman suggests that CSB treatment is similar, in a way, to treating an eating disorder, by regulating "behavior in more realistic ways."