Sexual addiction, also known as
sex addiction, is a state characterized by
compulsive participation or engagement in
sexual activity, particularly
sexual intercourse, despite negative consequences.
[1]
Proponents of a diagnostic model for sexual addiction consider it to be one of several sex-related disorders within
hypersexual disorder.
[2] The term
sexual dependence is also used to refer to people who report being unable to control their
sexual urges, behaviors, or thoughts. Related or synonymous models of pathological sexual behavior include
hypersexuality (nymphomania and satyriasis),
erotomania,
Don Juanism, and
paraphilia-related disorders.
[3][4][5]
The concept of sexual addiction is contentious.
[6][7] There is considerable debate among
psychiatrists,
psychologists,
sexologists, and other specialists whether compulsive sexual behavior constitutes an addiction, and therefore its classification and possible diagnosis.
Animal research has established that compulsive sexual behavior arises from the same
transcriptional and
epigenetic mechanisms that mediate
drug addiction in laboratory animals; however, as of 2018, sexual addiction is not a clinical diagnosis in either the
DSM or
ICD medical classifications of diseases and medical disorders. Some argue that applying such concepts to normal behaviors such as sex can be problematic, and suggest that applying medical models such as addiction to human sexuality can serve to pathologise normal behavior and cause harm.
[8]
The
ICD-11 created a new condition classification, compulsive sexual behavior, to cover "a persistent pattern of failure to control intense, repetitive sexual impulses or urges resulting in repetitive sexual behaviour".
[9][10]