Tiger Woods isn’t the only bad boy of the bedroom - or the only one claiming to be a sex addict (he’s reportedly being treated at a £40,000 -per-stay sex clinic) - but unlike fellow ‘sufferer’, Russell Brand, the golfing pro was married when he had these liaisons. Which leaves you wondering whether saying you’re a sex addict is a convenient way to justify your infidelity…
It’s not just the famous and fortuned who account their affairs to addiction, in the UK sexual psychotherapist, Paula Hall, treats up to 70 people a year from a range of backgrounds, from bankers to builders.
As with drug, alcohol and gambling addictions, women account for just 20% of sex addiction patients, with Kim Cattrall being the most high profile, but like Russell Brand, she’s cashed in on her addiction, building a career around her sexuality. Coincidence or clever thinking? You decide which.
Understanding addiction
Just like alcohol abuse, sex addiction isn’t about the activity itself, or even about having a high sex drive. According to medical experts, sex addiction is to do with the relationship you have with sex. If you’re feeling down and you regularly use sex to make you happier, or you use sex as a way to help you cope with the curveballs life throws it’s classed as addiction.
Just like alcohol abuse, sex addiction isn’t about the activity itself, or even about having a high sex drive. According to medical experts, sex addiction is to do with the relationship you have with sex. If you’re feeling down and you regularly use sex to make you happier, or you use sex as a way to help you cope with the curveballs life throws it’s classed as addiction.
With this theory, you can literally apply the term addiction to anything, you buy shoes when you’re feeling fat and feel good after - you’re a shoeaholic. So can you explain away conditions like obesity, a compulsion to eat, as a food addiction? And can you then, justify excessive sex, a compulsion to fornicate, as a sex addiction?
