CBT – cognitive behavioural therapy – and medication are standard treatments in conventional care. If you Google sex addiction and treatment you will find a few million hits. Tabloids offer checklists to “test if you are a sex addict” featuring questions such as “Have you had sex with someone even though you did not want it?” and “How many partners have you had?” In the wake of celebrity scandals and media interest in the phenomenon, sex addiction appears to have become almost popular. Best known is perhaps the golfer Tiger Woods, whose recent affairs caused his Swedish wife Elin to seek divorce – despite the fact that Woods also enrolled in a rehabilitation centre to treat his “sex addiction”. Since then, numerous celebrities, mainly in the United States, have identified themselves as sex addicts. When his marriage to Catherine Zeta-Jones came under strain and she accused him openly of being sex addicted, Douglas enrolled in a clinic for treatment and the tabloid press revelled in the details. Maybe it was the Hollywood actor Michael Douglas who first gave sex addiction a face. It is not uncommon for gay men to seek help for what they perceive as sex or porn addiction. Have you ever wondered if you are addicted to sex? Or have you had anxiety because you could not seem to stop surfing porn despite trying? In this case you are not alone.
