Tiger Woods opens discussions on Sex Addictioon

Amazing amount of interest has been created into the life and sexual behaviors of Superstar Tiger Woods. His image of a 'nice guy' and a 'family man' and his Superstar status has jetisoned Tiger to the top of Blogs, twitter and news media. Many question the idea of 'sex addiction' being a legitimate psychological disorder. It is not in the DSM-IV (the therapist/insurance bible)
It probably will be in the next addition to come out as “hypersexuality” It will have critiria such as ‘repeated sexual behaviors that continue to put a person at risk for physical diseases, financial distress, relational problems, moral and criminal problems. These are real issues addressed by thousands of 12 step groups (Sex Addict Anonymous, Sex and love Addict Anoymous, etc) as well as therapy centers and specialized therapists. Most people resort to therapy when their ’self will’ has failed….
Currently there is increasing scientific evidence about how the brain functions which lend itself to validating why/how addictions work. On why some people have difficulty making good decisions with their own sexual behaviors. There is some gender basis to this. Men have less connections between the right and left hemispheres so non-relational sex is more likely including ‘body parting’ objectifications, anonymous encounters etc. It is both natural and at times problematic. Women because of the right brain/left brain hemisheric connectedness have more romantic or ‘love’ addictions. ‘Love’ addiction, of course, is not a clinical term but a discriptive term Woman read pulp novels and soap opera dramas much more than men.Many people have a concern over the term ’sex addiction’ because it sounds like therapists are now the new ‘moral’ police hence the hostility in some of the news media. My job as a therapist is to help people with their problematic sexual behaviors. If you like polygamy for instance, that is your choice. It’s not a clinical issue. It does not mean you are a ’sex addict’. If you have a long standing pattern of failed relationships, being trustworthy and it appears related to your sexual behaviors I would as your therapist explore that with you. Sex addicts really don’t have alot of control at times. Sex addicts are not liberated by their behaviors. They are driven compulsively and destructively. They are lost in part of their brain that doesn’t think well. An MRI would show this. The ‘high’ from sex can, as any pleasureable emotion, be used as a defense against other more unpleasant feelings. When this is done in a fashion that causes major life problems. I call that sex addiction because it is most understood (and misunderstood). Sex addiction is not nor will it ever be… a clinical term.
Changing the term won’t help much in ending the many controversies of human sexual behaviors….clinically or in the general public. It is quite simplistic to think of sexual behaviors as just immoral or liberating sex.