However, psychiatrists have not been quick to believe that "out-of-control sexual behavior" is a mental health condition because of lack of research on this topic. A 2010 study asked, "Is sex addiction fact or fallacy?"
Sex addiction is also called sexual addiction, sexual dependency, hypersexuality, hypersexual disorder, compulsive sexual behavior, satyriasis (males), nymphomania (females), and sexual compulsivity.
Researchers from UCLA decided to test whether "hypersexual disorder" is in fact a mental health condition.
Research psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, Rory Reid, lead a team of doctors and marriage and family counselors in their search to find substantial criteria to help professionals adequately make hypersexual disorder diagnoses.
The findings, which were published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, will play a role in determining whether hypersexual disorder will be part of the improved fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which has been called the "bible" of psychiatry.
According to Reid, the study is significant because it proposes that hypersexual disorder is a real mental health disease.
Reid said:
"The criteria for hypersexual disorder that have been proposed, and now tested, will allow researchers and clinicians to study, treat and develop prevention strategies for individuals at risk for developing hypersexual behavior."
In order for hypersexual disorder to be deemed an actual mental health disorder, an individual must experience repeated sexual fantasies, behaviors, and urges that last upwards of 6 months, and are not due to factors, such as medication, another medical condition, substance abuse, or manic episodes linked to bipolar disorder.
People who have this condition also must display a pattern of sexual activity as a reaction to their periods of irritated moods, for example, when they feel depressed. These individuals also use sex as a way to deal with stress.
The guidelines used to categorize people with hypersexual disorder was developed by a DSM-5 sexual and gender identity disorders work group, established for the newly revised manual.
The guidelines also say that to be diagnosed with hypersexual disorder, a person must have tried to stop or reduce their sexual activities if they believe they are becoming a problem, and have failed to do so."
