Does sex addiction exist? - BBC News Magazine

So the News of the World whips up another non-story about a Tory peer and his revelations of sex addiction. This interests me very little, but it has prompted some informative further debate about the concept of sex addiction.

The BBC News Magazine featured an interesting summary of the 'is it really an addiction?' argument. Group therapist Paula Hall puts it like this:

"It's a compulsive need to seek out and follow a certain type of sexual behaviour. That behaviour varies but it's basically an anaesthetising behaviour, something you are doing in order to avoid dealing with something else."

She explains that it can indeed be a serious addiction. The behaviour ranges from viewing online porn for a few hours a day, which is usually a starting point and then escalates, to visiting prostitutes at every opportunity.

Glenn Wilson, of the Institution of Psychiatry, takes some issue with people admitting to 'sex addiction':

"It's a way that people signal to the world that they think they have a problem and need to break it." But they are no different from anyone else, he says, because we all have sexual drives which can get us into trouble without inhibition or control.

I find myself agreeing with both points of view, and both these quotes are right on the mark. We do need to exercise caution when using the label term 'addiction'. I use it liberally, partly because it's what people type into search engines, but I do try to explain the distinctions between 'porn addiction' and substance addictions.

However, it's all too easy to get side-tracked by technical definitions. The essential point here is widespread acknowledgement of a problem, and the gradual breaking down of stigma, shame and confusion surrounding the subject. All very positive, of course.

The Independent featured a similarly informative article, along with the obligatory photo of Russell Brand, the current poster boy of sex addiction. That's not such a bad thing though - I'm a big Russell Brand fan.