Medical expert of the article
New publications
Sexual addiction - truth or fiction?
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
In the modern world, more and more addictions are emerging. Along with bad habits such as alcoholism and drug addiction, oniomania (better known as shopaholism), internet addiction and even sexual addiction are emerging.
Sex addiction is a term used to describe a person who is unable to control their intimate desires and who seeks to obtain physical satisfaction as many times as possible. It is a condition that is considered a disease that can destroy a person's career and personal life.
Each addiction is associated with changes in the patient's brain, which works in a special way. Based on the analysis of the brain activity of a person with pronounced deviations, the doctor establishes the presence of a particular addiction.
Psychologists from the University of California (USA, Los Angeles) tested thirty-nine men and nineteen women aged 18-39. Initially, the scientists determined the characteristics of the subjects' sexual behavior by receiving answers to a number of questions. The experiment itself consisted of recording brain data on an electroencephalogram (EEG) that arose as a result of the reaction to the photographs being viewed. The images were selected in such a way that they would excite a variety of feelings - from negative to positive. The photos covered various areas of human life: family dinner, skiing, people with disabilities, as well as erotic pictures.
The researchers were interested in brain impulses three hundred milliseconds after the image was shown. The brain's reaction at this moment allows the most accurate determination of the presence or absence of addiction. Similar technology had been used previously to study other types of addiction, so it was chosen for detecting sexual addiction.
Psychologists identified participants who fit into the ranks of sex addicts based on their psychological characteristics, but scientists were unable to record any particular features in brain activity.
According to the experiment, it was established that sex addiction is just a state of increased libido. Strong sexual desire is not included in the list of diseases, is not associated with changes in the human brain and is subject to conscious control.
A person's obsession with sex, as well as complaints about a terrible addiction, is nothing more than a way to justify their actions or to arouse the interest of others. The neurochemistry of the brain, especially incorrectly formed interneuronal connections, have nothing to do with communication problems, the inability to realize oneself in one's own family, the destruction of a career and marriage. Rather, we are talking about moral principles, motivation, and ways of self-expression of an individual.
The term sexual addiction has many supporters who consider uncontrollable sexual desire to be a mental disorder. Sex addiction – truth or fiction? Everyone decides for themselves.
[