THE TRUTH ABOUT SEX ADDICTION

The first time I encountered the term 'sex addiction' was during the 90s as teenager flicking through gossip magazines that detailed the latest celebrity who was struggling with it. Sex addiction was — and continues to be — seen as scandalous, a source of gossip. Addiction to my mind meant drugs or alcohol, so I was surprised by the thought that sex could also be an addiction.

- By YASMINA FLOYER

The truth is that sex addiction is not officially recognised as a medical diagnosis, even today. With opinion on the subject mixed, I catch up with Silva Neves, an award-winning psychosexual and relationship psychotherapist, trauma psychotherapist and the author of books including Compulsive Sexual Behaviours, A Psycho-Sexual Treatment Guide for Clinicians (Routledge, £29.99).

He tells me that debate surrounding whether sex addiction is a genuine addiction has been ongoing since the term landed into clinical discourse in the early 80's. 'It has been especially heavily critiqued in the last 20 years as our knowledge of sexology has grown, and the debate is mostly about moral and religious biases vs evidence-based science,' Neves says. He explains that with all the research that has been conducted in this field so far, there isn’t any clear scientific evidence that ‘sex addiction’ exists. Despite this, there are still numerous clinicians that promote ‘sex addiction’.

Shame and stigma

The term ‘addiction’ itself is not only reductive, then, but it also creates a stigma that breeds shame, which is a moral based judgement rather than a clinical one. Given that broadly speaking, sex is still perceived as taboo, it means that shameful connotations relating to sexual behaviours that some may be struggling with are extremely diminishing, and may inhibit those who need support from seeking it. It is no surprise then when Neves says that some of the prominent therapists who promote treatment for sex addiction also tend to have religious and moral biases.