Sexuality is one of the most pleasurable aspects a person can experience throughout their life. Exploring it alone or with a partner can broadly satisfy a desire that each person experiences in their own way, depending on their needs and preferences. Scientifically, there is no specific number indicating how many sexual encounters are recommended for a healthy sex life. While one person may have a higher sexual appetite, for another, sex may not be among their main priorities.
However, sexual desire can become a problem when it turns into an obsession that occupies most of the day. This negatively affects aspects of the individual’s life, such as family, social, or work. This is when we speak of sex addiction. The variations can be many: from compulsively consuming pornography individually to constantly wanting to have sexual relations with a partner or wanting to do so with different partners. In all these cases, the sexual impulse is considered obsessive and a behavioral disorder. This problem affects men more than women, with approximately 10% of men and 5% of women being sex addicts.
Characteristics of a Sex Addict
Several characteristics can define someone as a sex addict. The most common are the following:
- Has thoughts related to sex almost constantly.
- Finds it difficult to control sexual impulses and feels an urgency to act on them.
- Denies the problem and tends to self-deceive.
- Persists in their behavior despite negative consequences.
- Tends to use deception and lies to hide their addictive behavior.
Unlike other addictions such as alcohol or drugs, sex is not an addiction to a substance, but it shares with them the withdrawal symptoms that appear when the individual cannot satisfy their impulses. Some of these symptoms may include anxiety, insomnia, sadness, irritability, and feelings of guilt.
The Emergence of New Technologies
The advent of the internet and new technologies like dating apps has greatly contributed to the diversification and increase in sex addict behavior. While it was once very common to resort to prostitution to satisfy sexual impulses, many people now turn to the internet for excessive use of pornography. Furthermore, the proliferation of mobile dating apps provides another way to seek sex through channels that did not exist before.
Masturbation with pornography, cybersex, or encounters with strangers are some of the practices that have grown in recent years. In many cases, these habits lead the addict to isolate themselves, affecting their work and financial situation. Additionally, their sexual behavior is hidden from partners and family through deception and lies. This leads many people to continue their behavior despite the negative consequences it entails.
A worrying trend is that more and more young men are unable to maintain an erection because their sexual appetite has been nullified by pornography consumption. One of its consequences is harm to the couple’s relationship because these men have less sexual desire after spending all their time online. In extreme cases, they may even stop participating in family activities outside because it’s an opportunity to have the house to themselves.
How Does a Sex Addict’s Brain Work?
In 2014, researchers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom conducted a study to observe the brain activity of men addicted to sex. Through brain scans performed on 19 adult men, they observed how their brains reacted while viewing pornographic images. The study showed that the same reward centers activated in the brains of drug addicts when they see their substance of desire were activated in the patients’ brains.
The study’s authors used images obtained by magnetic resonance imaging to observe changes in brain activity when patients watched pornographic videos. Subsequently, they compared the results obtained between people with compulsive sexual behavior and healthy individuals.
The results, published in the journal PLoS One, showed higher levels of activity in addicts in three specific brain areas: the anterior cingulate cortex, the amygdala, and the ventral striatum. These are the same areas that show greater activity in people with various addictions when contemplating the substance they consume most.
For example, two of the men who participated in the study claimed to have lost their jobs after consuming pornography at their workplace. On the other hand, four participants said that porn was a way to avoid prostitution.
Treating Sex Addiction
Reversing this situation is possible, and various treatments currently exist to help overcome sex addiction. In general, treatment consists of a two-pronged approach: pharmacological on one side and psychotherapeutic on the other. Medication treatment achieves results such as improving impulse control and reducing sexual appetite.
However, the aspect that receives the most attention and takes precedence over medication use is psychotherapeutic treatment. Through this, the patient learns, for example, to identify signs of stress, anxiety, and other dangerous circumstances. They also learn avoidance responses to risky situations.
