Compulsive sexual behaviour is sometimes called hypersexuality, hypersexuality disorder or sexual addiction. It’s an excessive preoccupation with sexual fantasies, urges or behaviours that are difficult to control, causing distress, or that may negatively affect your health, job, relationships or other parts of your life. Compulsive sexual behaviour may involve a variety of common sexual experiences. Examples include masturbation, cybersex, multiple sexual partners, indulging pornography or paying for sex. When these sexual behaviours become a major focus in your life, are difficult to control, and are disruptive or harmful to you or others, they may be considered compulsive sexual behaviour. This is according to Mayo Clinic. The World Health Organization (WHO) included compulsive sexual behaviour in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) and defined it as an impulse disorder “characterised by a persistent pattern of failure to control intense, repetitive sexual impulses or urges resulting in repetitive sexual behaviour”. In the article, ‘Sex Addiction Is A Legitimate Mental Disorder’ published by Medical News Today, people who have this condition must also 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. “As with many other mental health disorders, there must also be evidence of personal distress caused by the sexual behaviours that interfere with relationships, work or other important aspects of life,” Rory Reid, a research psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, was quoted in the article. Doctors say that it may start innocently then progressively to increasingly dangerous behaviours, such as prostitution and sex in public places. Health Grades, a health platform, defines nymphomania as a mental disorder marked by compulsive sexual behaviour. Compulsions are unwanted actions, or rituals, that a person engages in repeatedly without getting pleasure from them or being able to control them. “In the case of nymphomania, people act out their compulsions by engaging in risky behaviours such as promiscuity. Whether or not nymphomania qualifies as a true mental illness is often debated in the medical community, but evidence suggests that compulsive sexual behaviour is a real and serious illness. The condition is common in women.” Health experts say that satyriasis is a neurotic condition in men in which the symptoms are a compulsion to have sexual intercourse with as many women as possible, and an inability to have lasting relationships with them. If untreated, compulsive sexual behaviour is believed to damage your self-esteem, relationships, career, health and other people. But with treatment and self-help, you can learn to manage it. Dr Janvier Yubahwe, a psychiatrist and sexotherapist at Kigali Psycho-Medical Center, notes that nymphomania and satyriasis are some of the many sexual dysfunctions that are mentioned in the International Classification of Diseases book known as ICD-10. They are classified under the category of excessive sexual drive. He says they can be defined in three distinct elements which are, the marked increase in sexual drive; extremely frequent partner sexual behaviour and promiscuity. According to Yubahwe, nymphomania and satyriasis are rare conditions that can also be referred to by some as sexual addiction, and can exist as a primary condition or secondary to other mental and medical conditions. While there is little consensus among experts on the causes of these two conditions as primary conditions, cases of excessive sexual drive have been reported among people with hypomania and obsessive-compulsive disorder. “Nymphomania and satyriasis may negatively affect individuals. Their consequences can be either medical, such as attracting sexually transmitted diseases and their consequences, or social, such as, couple conflicts, separations or even divorces as a result of dissatisfaction on one hand, and pressure on the other, as well as the cheating that may follow,” Dr Yubahwe says. He adds that activities that can sometimes have a link with compulsive sexual behaviour may include compulsive masturbation, multiple affairs, sexual partners, and one night stands, persistent use of pornography, practicing unsafe sex, cybersex, among others. The psychiatrist adds that a person may have a sex addiction if they show chronic, obsessive sexual thoughts and fantasies, lie to cover behaviour, preoccupy themselves with sex regardless of a busy workstyle, are unable to stop or control the behaviours, and have a feeling of remorse or guilt after sex. According to Healthline, often, people with a sex addiction are removed from their normal daily lives for at least 30 days to help them regain control of their impulses and start healing. These types of programmes typically include in-depth individual and group therapy sessions. “Programs such as Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) follow the same recovery model as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). They can be very helpful for addressing sex addiction. Members aren’t required to give up sex entirely, but they are encouraged to refrain from compulsive and destructive sexual behaviour. Group meetings with others addressing the same challenges provide a good support system.” Doctors advise sex therapy to help individuals and couples find a way to have open, honest communication so that they can work through any concerns or challenges towards a healthy, happy sex life.
