From Psych Central: Fads in psychiatry and psychotherapy come and go. The concepts of neurosis, hysteria, and pathologized homosexuality (to name a few) have all disappeared from the psychiatric landscape only to be replaced by the more recent fads of bipolar disorder and ADHD. The latest of all psychiatric fads is sexual addiction.
“How convenient for the philanderer to hide behind the medical excuse. ‘My addiction made me do it’ is the modern equivalent and substitute for ‘the devil made me do it.’ Personal responsibility is easily dissolved when behavioral choices become fake psychiatric illnesses.” – Allen J. Frances, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Duke University; Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force
Undoubtedly, people can have problems with excessive sexual behavior. Nymphomania and satyriasis have been labels for this type of problem for hundreds of years. But recently, a small group of self-interested sex therapists, and a larger group of their “patients”, have come to push to include sex addiction (or compulsive sexual behavior) as a formal psychiatric diagnosis.
Luckily, the American Psychiatric Association has rejected these attempts, realizing the problems inherent with such a diagnosis.
