Sexual Addiction - Symptoms and Proposed Diagnostic Criteria

Symptoms and Proposed Diagnostic Criteria

Irons and Schneider have noted that "Addictive sexual disorders that do not fit into standard DSM-IV categories can best be diagnosed using an adaptation of the DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence." Similarly, Lowinson and colleagues use the addiction model and define sexual addiction as a condition in which some form of sexual behaviour is employed in a pattern that is characterized at least by two key features: recurrent failure to control the behaviour and continuation of the behaviour despite harmful consequences. Patrick Carnes, another proponent of the addiction model of sexual addiction, argued that most professionals in the field agree with the World Health Organization's definition of addiction. Carnes has suggested four types of addiction in his writings: Chemical, Process, Feelings, and Compulsive Attachments. Carnes has categorized sex addiction as a process addiction.

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