Sex addicts could be treated on NHS for their ‘illness’
SEX addicts may soon be treated on the NHS after the World Health Organisation declared it a mental health disorder for the first time.
Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder has been defined as an inability to control intense sexual urges leading to people neglecting their health despite often deriving no pleasure from being intimate, according to a WHO report.
But some mental health experts remain sceptical of whether sex can even be classed as a compulsion.
WHO suggests patients must suffer from the newly-defined disorder for at least six months, and experience substantial distress as a result, before they can be diagnosed. The NHS does not currently consider it a condition but could change its stance in light of the WHO declaration. Some esti- mates suggest up to 4 per cent of Britons suffer from the condition, and they can currently only access help through charities.
But internationally renowned psychologist Dr David Ley, an addictions specialist, questions whether sex addiction really exists. He said it has become big business ‘because predominantly white, rich men put their penises where they shouldn’t put them and then are desperate to seek some sort of solution, whether for PR reasons, to placate their wives or save their jobs’.
The disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, actor Kevin Spacey, golfer Tiger Woods, playboy actor Charlie Sheen, and screen legend Michael Douglas have all been treated for sex addiction in the past.
Dr Ley added: ‘Whether these behaviours can or should be described as an addiction is far from supported or accepted. I and many others, have argued that sex isn’t compulsive. Compulsion is an anxiety syndrome, part of OCD, and is both theoretically and diagnostically very different.’
Neither sex addiction or hypersexual disorder – a term for someone who spends an excessive amount of time pursuing sexual fantasies – are listed in the definitive psychiatrists’ handbook, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
However, Dr Valerie Voon, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: ‘The classification of compulsive sexual behaviour disorder as a mental illness is excellent news for patients.
‘It allows them to recognise that they are suffering with a problem, and will empower them to seek help. The next step is for health professionals to effectively diagnose and treat the disorder, and for specialist services to become available for sufferers. It takes it out of the shadows and they are able to seek help for it.’