Why is the term "sex addiction" controversial?

There’s no such thing as a sex addiction, says sex therapist Sari Cooper, but some people clearly have problems with sexual compulsions. Find out the difference by watching this video.

Transcript

00:00

There's a lot been written about in the media, online, TV about the term "sex addiction."

00:07

And I really wanted to help people understand what the term is and what it isn't.

00:13

[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:20

And so what I try to tell people is when people are compulsively

00:27

either using porn or having sex, either with their partner or with someone outside their relationship,

00:35

in a way that's taking up so much of their time, energy, and it almost gets into a fantasy-- you know,

00:43

a fantasy world, where they get cut off from their responsibilities, their relationships, their families, then it becomes a problem.

00:52

And it's not really addiction because addiction is usually the term we use, right, for dependence on alcohol--

01:00

a substance, like drugs, prescription drugs. So we in the sex therapy world, even though we don't all

01:09

agree about it, I tend to use the word compulsivity because it's more akin to an eating disorder, right?

01:17

We all need to eat, but some people can't help but eat past the point where they're not really hungry because it's

01:23

an emotional thing. Well, some people continue to have sex for reasons that have nothing to do with real hunger, or desire, or their libidos.

01:32

It really becomes about managing some sort of anxiety, some sort of mood disorder.

01:39

And that's different than an addiction to a substance. [AUDIO LOGO]