One study of alleged sex addicts found that the sex addicts had as much sex as non-sex addicts wanted to have, but couldn't or didn't. It has created a very broad net that captures very nonspecifically, and pathologizes not a syndrome, but merely high libido, or an internal conflict between one's sexual values (or society's), and one's sexual desires. As a result, anybody who engages in sexual behaviors somebody else doesn't like can be called hypersexual or addicted, even when the issue is really just a matter of mismatched libidos in a marriage. This high number of cases is mostly because the many varying definitions of hypersexuality and sex addiction have been so exceedingly broad and subjectively defined. Rush, this argument is very thin, and ignores real problems in their alleged data. Again, they suggest that this is validation for their arguments that hypersexuality is a genuine disorder. The proponents of hypersexual disorder and sex addiction argue that there are more publications and case studies of excessive sexual behavior than ever existed for the behaviors of frotteurism, a fetishistic diagnosis. The APA is actually trying quite hard in this current process to base their decisions on empirical evidence, as demonstrated by the rejection of sex addiction. Lane's book Shyness really calls the APA to task for subjectivity and poor scientific basis for diagnostic decisions. But, the arguments for Hypersexual Disorder are problematic as well.ĭr. The argument is that Hypersexual Disorder should at least be included in the Appendix of the DSM, for future study. But, there is a new group of researchers and therapists (including a few psychiatrists and psychologists) who argue for hypersexuality as a concept that does not include the addiction language, and merely describes in very non-moral terms, a syndrome of high levels of sexual behaviors that may pose a problem for people. There remains a large group of dogmatic, committed true believers in sex addiction, and the original Carnes idea that addiction to sex is the same as addiction to drugs. Personally, I think this interesting event reveals something about the sex addiction community - it is split. But, at the same time, a proposal for Hypersexual Disorder was put forth to the sexual disorders subcommittee. Even though lots of people believe strongly in sex addiction, the strength of their beliefs do not equal scientific evidence. Specifically, it was rejected due to a lack of empirical evidence. As a specific addictive disorder, sex addiction was roundly rejected by the APA's Addictive disorders subcommittee.
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