Internet Sexual Addiction

In this time period, there are many different disorders and illnesses that go unnoticed, and unknown. Society creates stereotypes about illnesses such as obsessive compulsive disorder, clinical Depression, and many other mental afflictions. Another that seems to remain controversial and misunderstood is sexual compulsive behaviors. Many see it as an excuse to act a certain way, or think a certain way; in reality it is a serious mental disorder that can cause devastating effects on the people that are consumed by them and the people who are around them. Something that is however, known about sexual compulsive behaviors is that there are certain things that can emotionally damage a person and cause them to have these behaviors. The three

Mark Lasser’s book “Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction” there are 4 major themes being explored, Part One: What is Sexual Addiction? Here Dr. Lasser explains what sexual addiction is, and what the three building blocks of sexual addiction are “Sexual Fantasy, Pornography, and Masturbation”. (Lasser, 2004, pp 28)Lasser expands on the different types of sexual addiction, and give us understanding of the different characteristic of the addiction. Major theme part 2: “The Roots of Sexual Addiction”, here Lassser gives the roots of sexual addiction and explains the reasons

3. These occur in response to stressful life events. 4. Unsuccessful attempt to control or reduce the sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors. 5. Engage in sexual behaviors without regard of risk for physical or emotional harm to self or others. 6. Clinically significant personal distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning due to sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors. 7. These are not due to any physiological effects of drugs or medication. 8. The diagnosis should be accompanied by the specific type of sexual activity: masturbation, pornography, sexual behavior with consenting adults, cybersex, telephone sex, strip clubs, other.” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Patrick Carnes, a counselor was the leading man in the Sexual Addiction Theory and even coined the term “Sex Addiction”. His claims of how sex addiction is no different from alcohol addiction helped put the issue on the mainstream media of discussion and debate. His work let him to believe that a person’s addiction is rooted to the addict’s belief system. In his book Out of the shadows: understanding sexual addiction, he states "Generally, addicts do not perceive themselves as worthwhile persons. Nor do they believe that other people would care for them or meet their needs if everything was known about them, including the addiction. Finally, they believe that sex is their most important need. Sex is what makes isolation bearable. If you do not trust people, one thing that is true about sex – and alcohol, food, gambling, and risk – is that it always does what it promises--for the moment. Thus, as in our definition of addiction, the relationship is with sex – and not people."(Carnes,

There are three levels to sexual addiction as described by Carnes in “Out of the Shadows”. The three levels are as follows:

Mark Lasser’s book “Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction” there are 4 major themes being explored, Part One: What is Sexual Addiction? Here Dr. Lasser explains what sexual addiction is, and what the three building blocks of sexual addiction are “Sexual Fantasy, Pornography, and Masturbation”. (Lasser, 2004, pp 28)Lasser expands on the different types of sexual addiction, and give us understanding of the different characteristic of the addiction. Major theme part 2: “The Roots of Sexual Addiction”, here Lassser gives the roots of sexual addiction and explains the reasons why it happens, these reasons as listed are Unhealthy Family Dynamics, and Family abuse,

Kaplan, H. S. (1995). The sexual desire disorders: Dysfunctional regulation of sexual motivation. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

The problem of sexual addiction, alone, included both physical and psychological elements. Sexual addiction could lead to many physical complications, for instances, the

Hyper sexual disorder/hyper sexuality , also commonly referred to as sexual addiction, is a condition diagnosed by psychiatrists and mental health researchers that plagues the addict with intensified and increased sexual impulses. These urges can lead to a significant increase in sexual activity.  Sex addiction is often thought to be synonymous with a high sex drive, but it is comparably as destructive and life altering as many other addictions. Research and studies show that those who suffer from pedophilia, addictions to pornographic material, and repeat sex offenders, are often diagnosed with hyper sexual disorder. Although correlated with sex offenses, not all offenders are considered sex addicts. Because of the complexity of the disorder, sex addicts may not even be aware of the severity of their addiction.  Without proper confrontation and counsel, those who suffer from hyper sexual disorder will also suffer emotionally, psychologically, and have difficulties functioning in society.

Everyday in America, more people become addicted to sex. According to the National Association of Sexual Addiction Problems, “1 out of 17 people are addicted to sex.” Many people become addicted to it and do not even know it. “Sexual addiction is a progressive intimacy disorder characterized by compulsive sexual

Hypersexual behaviour is described as an intense sexual drive that leads to poorly controlled, excessive, and impulsive sexual activity despite negative consequences, such as the risk of emotional and physical harm (Kor, A., Fogel, Y., Reid, R. C., & Potenza, M. N., 2013). Although the DSM-IV does not explicitly include criteria for hypersexual behaviour or sexual addiction, the diagnosis of a Sexual Disorder Not Otherwise Specified can be used to account for patterns of hypersexual behaviour (Kor, A., Fogel, Y., Reid, R. C., & Potenza, M. N., 2013). Jack’s first sexual experience involved a New York City prostitute, which formed the foundation for a lifetime of impulsive

Before one can begin to understand the complexities of sexual addiction it must be adequately defined. The National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity has defined sexual addiction as “engaging in persistent and escalating patterns of sexual behavior acted out despite increasing negative consequences to self and others.” (Herkov) It is important to note that this means that sexual addiction isn’t just the desire to have sex more than normal but also that the addict engages in activities regardless of and consequences. The addict must also escalate their behaviors over a period of time in order to be considered an addict. This doesn’t mean escalating it to illegal actions but merely increasing the rate at which they engage in the

Porn is a constant problem for a numerous amount of people because they become addicted to having the sexual desire of intimacy with another person. It causes individuals to take time out of their day to watch mature scenes of other people having different kinds of sexual intercourse depending on the person’s wide variety of options to choose from. Studies show that porn actually rewires the brain to form a deeply focused attention on the subject instead of other activities that could be done. “Porn happens to be fantastic at forming new, long-lasting pathways in the brain. In fact, porn is such a ferocious competitor that hardly any other activity can

Prior to the death of Mr. Collins father, his consumption of Internet pornography and sexual chatting was not considered remarkable. He appeared to be able to function sexually while masturbating and during sexual intercourse with the partners in his life prior to this life-altering event. Mr. Collins expressed a relatively normal desire for sexual contact as a teenager as well as desire to couple with partners his age in traditional ways, but after the death of his father, what normally produced the arousal necessary to ejaculate while masturbating and having sexual intercourse, no longer appears to have had the desired effect. It is at this time that it appears that the symptoms of depression began to manifest in Mr. Collins life, depressed mood, decreased interest or pleasure, change in sleep, change in activity, and concentration. As these symptoms manifested, it appears that the indicators of Hypersexual Disorder began to develop; excessive masturbation, obsessing about sex to the point that it interfered with his life, spending significant time planning their sexual activity, frequent viewing of pornography or use of sexually explicit websites or other online services including adult chat rooms, frequent one-night stands with strangers, staying emotionally detached from sexual partners, frequently engaging in paraphilias, and inability to stop despite the consequences.

There is not a clear stated definition of digital addiction however Shaw and Black (2008) characterize Internet addiction by excessive or poorly preoccupations, urges or behaviours regarding computer use and internet access that lead to impairment or distress. However as the term addict is a strong description DA is seen as a general misuse of the internet in various forms, as no formal definition exists the author sees the disorder as problematic computer usage resulting in negative consequences. According to Young et al DA is a broad term covering a wide variety of behaviours and impulse control problems. K.Young (1999) also categorised DA into five subtypes of DA, they are cybersexual addiction, cyberrelationship addiction; net compulsion (e.g. gambling or shopping on the internet); information overload (e.g. compulsive database searching); and computer addiction (excessive game-playing). This project highlights social network addiction which falls into the category of cyberrelationship addiction but also contemplates all other types.