Maryland Department of Mental Hygiene has no numbers or statistics to share regarding sexual addiction. If untreated, out of control sexual behavior can ruin relationships, spread illness and even cause financial and legal trouble.

Photos by H. Bartlett for The Bay Net

 In recent years the concept of sexual addiction has received increasing attention, perhaps in part due to technology.  Today's information technology has created an environment where pornography and sexual chat can be found at the click of a button.  In an age where clandestine rendezvous can be easily arranged via cell phones, instant messaging and chat rooms it might be more difficult for those who easily succumb to temptation to resist risky and destructive sexual behavior.

 There is a dearth of formal statistical information about sexual addiction not only from Maryland but from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Centers for Disease Control as well as the American Psychiatric Association.  This may be in part due to the fact that there is not an official diagnosis of "sexual addiction" in what is referred to as the DSM-IV, which is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders  published by the American Psychiatric Association.  The manual is the official source for disorders used to diagnose mental illness.

 Dr. John Bancroft, former Director of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction is now a Senior Research Fellow for the institute.  The Kinsey Institute is an undisputed leader in the field of sexual research.

 In an interview with The Bay Net, Dr. Bancroft stated, "I prefer the term 'out of control' sexual behavior. In a minority of cases, such behavior can be considered as 'compulsive' in the psychiatric sense, and the concept of 'behavioral addiction' may be relevant in some others. But at this stage the best we can say is that there is no single explanation for 'out of control' sexual behavior."

 A paper written by Dr. Bancroft and Dr. Zoran Vukadinovic reports that there may be a link between mood disorders and out of control sexual behavior.  The paper states:

 "Some evidence exists that the relationship between negative mood and sexuality is paradoxical in some individuals, with increased sexual interest occurring in association with negative mood (Angst, 1998; Mathew & Weinman, 1982; Nofzinger et al., 1993)."

 Researchers are paying attention to the fact that mood elevating drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can reduce out of control sexual behavior.

 The Maryland Department of Health's Director of Mental Hygiene, Dr. Brian Hepburn, spoke to The Bay Net regarding the controversy.

 "The controversy in the field is between professionals say that this is behavior that is under the control of the individual.  The question is what are we evaluating, the hyper sexuality or is the definition an individual who has normal sexual drive but they are attracted to multiple partners or seek out multiple sexual partners?"

 Dr. Hepburn explained that some people feel that calling it an addiction gives the individual an excuse rather than making them control their behavior.

 He described an addiction as something that is extremely difficult to resist and creates an anxiety within the individual when attempting to resist the behavior.

 Often people who suffer from out of control sexual behavior don't present that way when entering a facility for assistance.  Instead, they often present with symptoms of anxiety or depression.  During the session it may be discovered that they are suffering from an addiction or abnormal or destructive sexual behavior.