READ DR HILARY JONES ON SEX ADDICTION

Condition is similar to cocaine cravings

Dr Hilary Jones

By Dr Hilary Jones, 09/11/2008

DOCTOR Hilary Jones says sex addiction has similarities to addictions to substances such as cocaine, alcohol or speed.

He said:"Sex addiction means that you cannot control your sexual urges.

The desire to have sex in whatever shape or form is compulsive but often risky and dangerous. It is sex without love or emotion - just a physical act that creates a short lived "high" but can then leave you with feelings of guilt and shame.

Not bad enough to stop you continuing however.

For some, it is so strong that it leads to them neglecting their work or their families and can make them engage in activities others would find tacky or sordid.

Some psychiatrists don't think it really exists - it is just an invented term for promiscuity and lechery - but there are similarities to other addictions such as to cocaine, alcohol or speed.

Unchecked and untreated it can lead to misery and illness. Pregnancy and sexual infections, break-up of relationships for example. But it can be treated with talking therapy and psychoanalysis and with support and help from groups like Sex Addicts Anonymous. Like all other kinds of addiction though, the person themselves have to want to succeed. They need to realize it isn't healthy and doesn't ultimately make them happy or solve their underlying feelings of not being loved.

Your comments

This article has 7 comments

Since my divorce from my wife of 20 years i must have had sex with around 60 different women and none can satisfy me on their own. Ive had afew 3 somes with two horny girls i met out one night and this really is the only thing that gets me off. Does this mean im addicted to sex?

By steve. Posted April 28 2009 at 5:15 PM.

I hope you get the professional help you need, deal with the root cause for this behaviour and then you can form healthy relationships. All the very best.

Tracey.

By Tracey Taylor. Posted December 14 2008 at 5:48 PM.

I have been married for 04 years no kinds cause my wife is not interested in sex.
I am very lustful, what should I do. and sex adictedc

By Sohail. Posted November 26 2008 at 4:07 AM.

I CANNOT IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO BE A SEX ADDICT. SOME MAY SAY ITS AN EXCUSE TO SLEEP AROUND, I DONT THINK SO THIS POOR WOMAN IS RISKING HER LIFE FOR A QUICK FIX. ADDICTION LIKE THIS IS NOT TO BE SNEERED AT, PEOPLE SHOULDN'T JUDGE BUT OFFER HELP SUPPORT AND UNDERSTANDING, KEEP YOUR SPIRITS UP PET I HOPE YOU GET THE HELP YOU NEED.

By MARIE MC MEEKIN. Posted November 23 2008 at 2:39 PM.

Now i know its an ilness maybe i can get help too, I am not that far gone yet but my hubby just cant keep up.

By Tamaza caan. Posted November 15 2008 at 12:32 AM.

I regard such claims with deep suspicion. If we look at <i>other</i> animals, we see that they very frequently risk their lives for sex; so why should we humans be any different? Why is a behaviour pattern that is close to universal accross animal species be regarded as pathological in humans? Surely it is feeling guilty about sex that is pathological....

By Richard Benham. Posted November 9 2008 at 10:43 PM.

I thought once a year was alot.

By David Nigel Braham. Posted November 9 2008 at 2:37 PM.

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