How often you have sex depends on your sex drive. However, there are a lot of people who struggle with sex addiction.
Sexual addiction is the compulsive participation or engagement in sexual activity, particularly sexual intercourse which can ruin lives if care is not taken.
According to research, a sexual addiction occurs when sexual behaviour is compulsive, obsessive, characterised by a loss of control, and/or continues despite the presence of negative consequences.
Sexual addiction generally develops as a coping mechanism for trauma or extreme stress, but can also be a co-occurring disorder with another type of mental health issue, or related to a neurological disorder.
People struggling with sex addiction are mostly trapped within a cycle of periods of hypersexuality, which often bring relief from negative feelings.
It’s important to recognise that someone can have a sex addiction without necessarily having sex all the time.
There are various sex addiction symptoms that you should look out for if you’re worried that you or someone that you care about might be experiencing it.
Sexual addiction symptoms:
• Extreme sexual cravings: Anyone experiencing sexual addiction may think about sex more than usual instead of the normal sexual drive. This can cause the person to indulge in masturbation or viewing of pornography.
The extreme sexual cravings experienced by sex addicts will make it tough to get through the day without indulging in any sexual activities.
• Engaging In Unsafe Sex Practices: People with sex addiction end up engaging in unsafe sex practices, because they want it so bad, they don’t take time to think about their actions.
The urge to have sex might be so strong that they just can’t bring themselves to worry about things like condoms or birth controls, and this can lead to many health issues and unwanted pregnancies.
• Missing Work or Important appointments to Have Sex: A sex addict might not have the best mental health, and this could make them not consider the consequence of missing work or important appointments to pursue some types of sex acts.
• Escalating Sexual Behaviours: In this case, an addict may find him or herself doing things they are not proud of because you can’t help the way you feel. Many people get themselves in situations they regret, for example, rape, having children with different people, having sex with a relative.
• Constant Cheating: one of the most common symptoms of sex addiction is constant cheating, this could ruin your relationship with someone that you respect and cherish, but you can’t consider the consequences because you’re blinded by your sex addiction.
Some people have a hard time recognising that they’re having mental health issues, so they might need a family member or their spouses to step in and let them know that they have a problem which needs treatment.
The most common treatment for sex addiction is to speak to a therapist. Therapists will help you work through it at a steady pace.