Essay Sample on the Perspectives on Sex Addiction

Addiction is a reliance on a substance where the victim develops the feeling of being defenseless and unable to get rid of the obsession with a substance or stopping a particular behavior. Notably, addictions can be very perilous psychologically, emotionally and physically especially when an individual is a mild to chronic user and abuser. In that, the nervous system, muscle tissue, and the brain are all living through the reliance on the next high (Garcia & Florence 255). Consequently, there is a vast need for this cycle of behavior or addiction to be broken. The user needs to pull up the anchor that stops them from moving on. This entails changing the social circles, patterns, environment as well as friends. Addictions can be presented in several manners, although I will seek to extend our knowledge on the issue of sexual addiction. Therefore, sex addiction is a compulsive psychological need for having uncontrolled sex hence becoming a lifelong problem that needs to be addressed to avoid continued complications.

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The act of making love is a beautiful thing that is practiced by two mature persons, although in various instances it can become an addictive behavior. Similarly, just like any other addictive behaviors or substances, it has severe impacts on the user. In this case, the habit-forming substance is masturbation or sex. A sex addict wants more and more explicit pornographic contents increasingly so that they can become aroused (Carnes 4). Therefore, their actions are aligned with several sexual experiences and the intense urge to acquire them. As a consequence, an individual cannot manage their sexual desires which ends up causing severe effects on their bodies and the persons around them. For instance, an individual will start feeling shame, being abusive and secretive due to this addictive behavior. There are different ways to assist persons struggling with addiction such as taking them to rehabilitation or counseling sessions. However, sexual addiction should be viewed as a real disorder which has real complications to the addicts, and if they are not treated early, they will intensify hence causing abnormal sexual behaviors.

At the current times we are living, numerous illnesses and disorders appear to go unnoticed and unknown. In that, the society develops stereotypes in regard these disorders such as clinical depression and obsessive-compulsive disease amongst many others. Subsequently, one of the most dominant disorder that is perceived to remain controversial and misconstrued is the sexual addiction behaviors. A majority of persons in the society recognizes it to be a justification to act or think in a particular manner. However, this is not an excuse because this predicament is very much present in our society today. Sexual compulsive habit is a severe mental disorder that is most likely to cause devastating effects on the persons that are sex addicts and the people close to them (Garcia & Florence 255). It is important to note that compulsive sexual behaviors can be as a result of some elements that are most likely to cause damage to an individual emotionally hence leading them to develop these behaviors. The most likely causes of sexually compulsive behaviors include troubled private relationships, suffering or pain during childhood and having inappropriate or undeveloped coping mechanisms.

Subsequently, scientists through the aspect of medicalization analyze the shift of authority in matters relating to abnormal human disorders especially in the issue of sex addiction. Quirks initially were viewed as the by-products of maturation which led to an extensive examination and were categorized under the medical philosophies (Phillips et al. 170). As a consequence, the past fewer years have recorded a high percentage of illness and compulsions deemed medical disorders which advanced the exacerbating of the unnecessary institutionalization of several harmless irregularities. This notion is in line with the increasing popularity of sex addiction and also the discussions about its insertion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM).

Therefore, only the idea of such irrational desire possibly being included in the DSM together with critical mental and learning illness illustrates the bold steps taken by the society and the scientists by putting this disorder under scrutiny ad for it being recognized as a straining disorder. Evidently, the scientists view this disorder as an individual's inability to manage his or her sexual behavior which results to abnormal high sex drive and addiction with sex which has adverse effects on a person's private life. Therefore, there have been measures taken by the science to break down this illness that is compared with drug addiction and other abnormalities by putting it under the scientific microscope.

In my view, compulsive sex behavior have been in existence for a long time now just like the other disorders. Nonetheless, specific elements are surrounding the issue that increases its controversy hence becoming a challenge to diagnose this addictive behavior. The primary argument is that sex addiction is used as an excuse by men especially when they are caught in scandals and having affairs with multiple women. Notably, this argument has been enhanced by the so-called "celebrities" or movie stars and professional athletes who use "sex addiction" so that they can save their relationships and careers (Carnes 5). I believe that sex abuse has the same qualities with drug addiction and it should be viewed as a medical condition. It is not appropriate for persons to continue seeing this illness as a myth or it is caused by the cultural influences. Both the science department and the public should treat this medical condition with the seriousness it deserves. Subsequently, social media and other media platforms should stop referring to the celebrities who are caught having an affair as sex addicts since this will be used as an excuse and people will not understand the seriousness of this illness.

To sum up, sex addiction primarily starts at an early age during child development. Childhood is an extremely impressionable duration, and the dangerous forces and circumstances tend to push a child towards harmful behaviors which later becomes an addiction. As depicted in this work, sex addiction develops to become a dominant power in an individual's life, and it goes out of their controlled if it remains untreated. Their behaviors take another different direction, in a way that even the people close to them cannot see anything abnormal since the victim will become secretive. Evidently, sex becomes an addictive behavior through increasingly developing habits such as having numerous affairs outside the wedlock, compulsive masturbation, engaging in unprotected sex, regular use of pornography, sexual messages amongst other manifestations of sex addiction. Therefore, this essay successful pointed out that addiction comes in various forms and not just the dependence of substances but also processes or behaviors such as sex abuse. Thus, the issue of sex addiction should be addressed ethically to cub this disorder.

Works Cited

Carnes, Patrick J. "Progress in Sexual Addiction: An Addiction Perspective." SIECUS Report, vol. 14, July 1986, pp. 4-6.

Garcia, Frederico Duarte and Florence Thibaut. "Sexual Addictions." American Journal of Drug & Alcohol Abuse, vol. 36, no. 5, Aug. 2010, pp. 254-260.

Phillips, Bonnie, et al. "Sex Addiction as a Disease: Evidence for Assessment, Diagnosis, and Response to Critics." Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, vol. 22, no. 2, Mar. 2015, pp. 167-192., doi:10.1080/10720162.2015.1036184.