Sex addiction is a serious ailment and is not a laughing matter as the compulsive addiction can inflict horrible agony and guilt to the victim or even to the society at large if the sufferer commits sexual crimes because of the affliction.
Instead of having healthy and normal sexual relationships, sex addicts use sexually related activities to satisfy their never ending embarrassing urges.
They fantasize and get involved in sexually related activities until it becomes very detrimental to their daily livelihoods.
The irony is that sex addicts may be having a lot of sex, but most of the time they are not enjoying themselves.
This is because the victims use sex as a release outlet for their addiction rather than having meaningful relationships with their sexual partners.
There are many types of behaviors in people who are addicted to sex.
This is the reason why not all of them use the services of prostitutes or multiple partners.
Some may just be addicted to pornography, excessive masturbation, or even voyeurism.
The main difference between an addiction to sex and normal healthy sex is when the addict continues the irrational activities until negative consequences to their lives start to occur.
So what are the symptoms of sex addiction? The symptoms are very diversified, but if you find yourself engaging in cybersex, phone sex, excessive masturbation, voyeurism, sadomachisms, exhibitionism or having extramarital affairs, then you may be a sex addict.
So what causes sex addiction? Well, having a parent who is an addict increases the chances that the kid may grow up thinking that such behavior is normal.
A child growing up with sexually abusive parents can also be a potential sex addict.
Some people believe that the addiction may be caused by certain imbalanced neurotransmitters in the brain.
This is because the act of having sex releases an enhanced feeling of euphoria, and as such the addicts continue the activities to get the experience to be repeated.
Sex addiction has many seriously dire consequences.
It may lead to the addict committing sexual crimes, uncontrolled spending on prostitutes, getting injuries to sexual organs by using sex toys or indulging in sadomasochistic sex, contracting sexually transmitted diseases and many other negative consequences.
So how can sex addiction be rehabilitated and cured? Therapists say that a period of abstinence gives the addict time to explore reasons of the addiction.
This abstinence can be done in the confines of rehabilitation centers.
A part of the rehabilitation therapy will include individual or group counseling sessions determining why the person behaves this way and also to identify the triggers for the addict's extreme behavior.
Treatments also include helping the addict learn how to have healthy sexual relationships.
In this part of the treatment, the addict's partner will also be included in the therapy for it to work.
After recovery from the treatments and therapies, ex-addicts can also join many support groups to prevent relapses in their conditions.
If you think that you may be in the high risk group, then you may want to contact the rehabilitation centers in your locality for evaluation and therapies or contact support groups such as Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sexual Compulsive Anonymous or Sexaholics Anonymous for help.
You can also seek medical treatment from your medical practitioner because in certain cases, prescriptive medicines can be useful in treating the compulsive part of an addict's behaviour.