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The Dark Side of Sex…

Can't Stop?

Sexual addiction is best described as a progressive intimacy disorder characterized by compulsive sexual thoughts and acts.

Like all addictions, its negative impact on the addict and on family members increases as the disorder progresses. Over time, the addict usually has to intensify the addictive behavior to achieve the same results.  Contrary to popular belief, sex addicts are not all sex offenders, and vice-versa.  The National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity has defined sexual addiction as “engaging in persistent and escalating patterns of sexual behavior acted out despite increasing negative consequences to self and others.” In other words, a sex addict will continue to engage in certain sexual behaviors despite facing potential health risks, financial problems, shattered relationships or even arrest.

The same compulsive behavior that characterizes other addictions also is typical of sex addiction. But these other addictions, including drug, alcohol and gambling dependency, involve substances or activities with no necessary relationship to our survival. For example, we can live normal and happy lives without ever gambling, taking illicit drugs or drinking alcohol. Even the most genetically vulnerable person will function well without ever being exposed to, or provoked by, these addictive activities. Sexual activity is different. Like eating, having sex is necessary for human survival.

There are many co-occurring disorders that go hand in hand with sex addiction.  For example, Alcohol and drugs are used to cover the guilt and shame of the inability to stop the “sexual behaviors”  which in turn lead to the same demoralizing behavior which begins a vicious cycle. Drugs alter libido, enhancing it early in drug addiction and inhibiting it later. There is a pattern in cocaine addiction of selling sexual favors for cocaine. As the cost of drug addiction increases, the drug addict usually can’t afford the drug from ordinary job income, and must resort to (either/or) stealing, drug dealing or prostitution to support their habit. Many drugs cause blackouts or amnesia during the drug using experience, and if sex is coupled with that drug using experience then the details of the sexual experience may not be remembered.

Sex addiction is very real and there is help for this disease.  It is not hopeless.  More and more the public is coming forward with their issues and seeking a better life and a permanent solution.

It’s Harder If You Start Young

Young and Loaded

A NIDA-funded study has demonstrated that the relapse rate for heroin addicts increases with time and that the probability of long-term abstinence depends on the age of first drug use. Those who start daily heroin use at a younger age are more likely to relapse than those who start later. Heroin is not the only type of  drug that has ill effects if consumed at a young age.

Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana. For example, the risk of using cocaine is much greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. So there is more of a risk that a marijuana user will be exposed to and urged to try more drugs.  To better determine this risk, scientists are examining the possibility that long-term marijuana use may create changes in the brain that make a person more at risk of becoming addicted to other drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine.  Therefore, if during the crucial developmental stages there are chemicals added to the brain chemistry evoking feelings of happiness, belonging, and/or excitement; the brain will be more likely to consistently resort to those methods (drugs) in order to experience those emotions due to the lack of practice in experiencing those feelings organically.

Health Care Costs and Addiction…A relationship.

Health Care

The interrelationship between addiction treatment and general health was noted in a report by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2006, an Institute study bureau found that improving the nation’s general health and resolving the major problems of the overall health care system will require attending equally to the major problems of mental and substance use health care.

“Some of the destructive medical consequences of drug abuse and addiction are temporary – the conditions improve after patients receive treatment and are able to stop their drug use. Other consequences may be more persistent, diminishing the quality of patients’ health long after drug use has stopped. Whether short-lived or chronic, the growing list of recognized health consequences of abuse and addiction underscores the fact that drug abuse is not just a brain disease that exists in medical isolation – it manifests itself throughout the body with a broad array of medical consequences.”

–Feb 2004  Dr. Nora Volkow. Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse

Treating people for addiction disorders reduces expensive health care use. Without a doubt, there is a health care justification for treating addiction, but there also is a proven economic justification. Addiction treatment programs result in significant cost-savings for health care systems compared with the cost of not treating addictions. In addition, treating addiction will save money from the reduced costs of treating other general medical and chronic illness conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

When addiction is treated, the overall health of patient improves. The mountain of evidence shows that these patients fare better with their other health issues and use fewer costly medical services. Several studies have found that substance abuse treatment reduces the medical costs of patients with alcohol and drug use disorders, who utilize health care services at a much higher rate than other patients.

Addiction is pervasive in the United States. An estimated 23 million Americans suffer from alcohol and drug addiction, according to the most recent government survey. Yet only one in 10 of these persons – 2.4 million – get treatment.  With advances in our health care system we, as a nation may be able to arrest, no pun intended, our mental health problems and save our money.  Every little thing we do has an effect on the rest.

At War With Alcoholism

In America, where there is an “epidemic” of mental health problems and alcohol abuse that have been reported in the troops returning home from war zones in recent years.  Overall, more than one in ten (13 percent) of the respondents said that they were drinking alcohol in quantities defined by researchers as hazardous, according to the World Health Organization’s Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test .

Soldiers and Alcoholism

It is a concern for officials in Britain and America to focus on prevention of PTSD, whereas a culture of binge drinking and alcohol misuse could be more of a problem, both before and after each soldier’s tour of duty.  American’s serve at least a 15 month deployment compared to the 5-6 months in other countries.  This has added to the mental unstability of the troops returning from duty. In Britain The charity Combat Stress said, however, that it had seen a 66 per cent rise in demand for its services in the past five years, with veterans taking an average of 14 years to seek help after being discharged. Support services were now seeing about 4,000 new veterans each year, but this could rise to 9,000 a year within a decade, the charity added.

A recent Army mental health report concluded that most service members need closer to two years between tours before their battle-related symptoms resolve themselves. Studies show that alcohol consumption is up 13% amongst armed forces.  There are several factors which lead to the higher rate of PTSD, alcoholism, and mental instability within returning troops.  Although our troops are fighting our country’s battles, sadly they return to only 5 years of coverage after their duty is completed.  Compare that with Britain’s lifetime care and it is absolutely unacceptable considering soldiers do not report their symptoms on the whole for quite some time after their return.

Take it or Leave it?

The best chemical dependency rehab is to not pick up at all.  This can be difficult because most people feel they can stop.  Interestingly this may be the case for some but not others…

Take it or Leave it

The science community has been researching the function of newborn neurons, to help understand their possible role in psychiatric and neurological diseases such as mood disorders, schizophrenia and epilepsy.  This research is simply incredible. The scientific community may possibly be on the verge of understanding, treating or even preventing life-ruining brain-based diseases — including one that affects an estimated 23 million Americans: drug and alcohol addiction. 
In a recent study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Michele Noonan, a University of Texas neuroscience graduate student in the lab of Amelia Eisch, shows that a lack of neurogenesis, or birth of new neurons, in the adult rat can actually cause drug addiction.  The very idea that if an individual is not producing a normal amount of  new neurons, it leaves them susceptible to addiction is groundbreaking.  This is the strongest evidence yet that there are real biological reasons why some people might be more vulnerable to addiction than others, and gives us a better understanding of the role these very important generating neurons might play in the brain.  This also implies that perhaps in the future there may be methods for testing for the rate of production and practicing preventative measures to not pick up that first drink, hit, or pill….because you would actually “know better”.