Science Says Sex Addiction Is For Real. Here's How To Diagnose It.

Monday, October 22, 2012 - 16:31 in Psychology & Sociology

Coupling Wikimedia Commons‘Hypersexual disorder' might be included in the updated mental health bible, but first scientists have to define it. UCLA scientists have some suggestions. Tiger Woods, Charlie Sheen and other celebrities with an admitted proclivity for prurient behavior could soon serve as diagnostic case studies: New research shows that sex addiction is indeed a mental health disorder--one that can be easily and accurately diagnosed. The research could bolster efforts to include sex addiction in the updated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, an instruction manual of mental conditions that has criteria for diagnosing everything from autism to schizophrenia. The manual is undergoing its first major revision in more than a decade, prompting heated debates over which disorders should and should not be included, sex addiction among them. But what exactly is sex addiction? The study offers some key definitions. It's formally called "hypersexual disorder," and it's much more...

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