Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff. Many people enjoy sex, and wish to engage in it more often than they normally do, but persistent sexual desires, thoughts, and behavior can become unwelcome and problematic.
A subset of individuals who become preoccupied with sexual fantasies and urges act on these impulses while feeling that they have no control over those actions—repeatedly sending explicit texts and images, for example, or attempting to fondle others without consent. This pattern of behavior is often referred to as hypersexuality or sex addiction , although both the concept and the term are subjects of vigorous debate, and most experts agree that simply having especially frequent sex, or having had sex with many partners, are not in themselves necessarily signs of a problem.
Behaviors that provide opportunities for immediate reward can become addictive. The compulsive pursuit of feedback or reward these activities provide may lead to the neglect of other life goals and create harmful consequences, from the loss of money to the disruption of important relationships.
Gambling, for example, is seen as potentially addictive, in that people can become restless or irritable when prevented from gambling, or lie to cover up their actions, or allow the habit to jeopardize work and family. While other behaviors seen by many as addictive—gaming, eating, shopping, porn , and sex—may provide similar feedback and reward pursuit, it has not yet been determined that they meet all of the criteria for addictive behavior.
But they do tend to feel more shame about their sexuality or have more negative attitudes about sex. This may indicate that the concept of sex addiction primarily stems from religious or cultural attitudes and proscriptions about sexuality. In surveys, such people do not report having sex more often than others who report no issue with their sex lives, and in locations where compulsive sexual behavior disorder is diagnosed, the primary complaint of patients is not sex, but pornography use.
