What Motivates People to Become Sex Addicts

Running Head : What Motivates People to Become Sex Addicts

What Motivates People to Become Sex Addicts

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Abstract

Sex addiction involves a high , tolerance , craving , dependence withdrawal , fascination , compulsion , secrecy , and a personality change This will discuss motivates of people to become sex addicts . The role of psycho dynamically based psychotherapy is also been discuss as useful approach in identifying and addressing the developmental problems that occurred in a person 's childhood as an effect of abuse . Moreover the four major schools of thought about addiction

are the self-medication hypothesis , the stress reduction theory , the cognitive /behavioral thesis , and the disease model has also been discussed

An addiction is a dependence to an activity , person , or thing that is characterized by disproportion , lack of control , loss of power distortion of values , inflexible centrainess to the person 's life unhealthiness , pathology , chronicity , progression , and potential fatality . More simply put , an addict is a person who cannot say "no " A sex and love addict cannot say "no " to his or her desires to have sex or get into a love relationship . An addict is a person whose thoughts and behaviors are causing problems but who cannot stop them (Book , 1997 However , Sex and love addictions are not often seen as severe or , at least , not as obviously dangerous as drug addiction or cigarette smoking . This is far from the truth . The arrival of AIDS has made unsafe sex potentially lethal . Moreover , love and sex addicts have a high rate of suicidal ideation , and often are admitted to psychiatric hospitals for depressions convoyed by suicidal thoughts or actions . Even driving as under the influence of a sexual or love addiction can be hazardous if not fatal

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for psychiatric diss does not list sexual addiction as a specific dis , but it has been usually recognized as a problem in the psychiatric and addiction literature for several decades

Compulsive sexual activity meets the criterion for addiction when it involves a loss of control over the behavior and persistence of it despite negative consequences . The particular type of sexual activity may diverge and include various behaviors . Some of these behaviors , such as voyeurism and fetishism , are addressed as sexual diss in the diagnostic manual , and there is some overlie between sexual addiction and other sexual diss (Knauer , 2002

The pervasiveness of sexual addiction in the general population is thought to be between 3 and 6 percent and is more common in men than in women . Sexual addiction frequently coexists with substance addiction mainly to cocaine . The prevalence of sexual addiction may be as high as seventy percent in cocaine addicts entering treatment . While unrecognized and untreated , it is a common cause of deterioration of the cocaine addiction

Contrary to enjoying sex as a self affirming source of physical pleasure , the addict has learned to rely on sex for comfort from pain for nurturing or relief from stress (Carnes , 1991 , pp 34

Sexual abuse or incongruously seductive relationships...