The men and women seated around me, legs crossed and arms folded, draped over orange plastic chairs, would see right through me any second now. Even though I was staring down at the floor, I could feel their eyes burning in to me. They had serious problems, not me. The more I listened to the stories of the people around me, the more I realized that I was in the right place. The way that I see it, sexual addiction is more about shame, isolation, and unworthiness than it is about chasing after sexual experiences. Compulsive sexual behaviour is what sex addicts use to numb out their emotions, just like alcoholics often use staying drunk to avoid feeling their underlying difficult emotions. Sexual addiction, just like any drug addiction, can have a sliding scale of symptoms — ranging in severity. The consequences can be fatal.

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This page is dedicated to providing you with useful information on sex and porn addiction. Porn addiction and sex addiction are not the same disorder. Addiction to porn is considered to be a type of sex addiction and can manifest itself differently than other types of sex addiction.
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Motivation 23 comments. Every type of reward that has been studied, in fact, increases the level of dopamine in the limbic system of the brain. The limbic system is the primitive part of the brain that ensures survival, governs emotions, and is the seat of all desires and drives. This is the area of the brain where all addiction happens. It may block out sensations of pain, uncertainty, depression, or of distressing emotions. It may create powerfully distracting sensations that focus and absorb attention.
Sex addiction the compulsive sexual behavior described here should not be confused with disorders such as pedophilia or bestiality. For some people, sex addiction can be highly dangerous and result in considerable difficulties with relationships. Some report that it may manifest itself as a compulsive need to masturbate, view pornography, or be in sexually stimulating situations. A person with sex addiction may significantly alter their life and activities in order to perform sexual acts multiple times a day and are reportedly unable to control their behavior, despite severe negative consequences. One characteristic may be secrecy of behaviors, in which the person with the disorder becomes skilled at hiding their behavior and can even keep the condition secret from spouses, partners, and family members.