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Example research essay topic: Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disease Or Not - 2,377 words

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Compulsive Sexual Behavior: Disease or Not Sex and love addiction is a relatively new conception for understanding and treating compulsive sexual behavior and relationship dependency. This paper is aimed to prove that compulsive sexual behavior is a disease, driven sexual acting out and intensive, unending, and unhealthy romantic attachment. Compulsive sexual behavior requires treatment and recovery. Unfortunately, the medical profession continues to debate the diagnostic terminology to be applied to individuals who are powerless over their sexual and love pursuits and, consequently, find their lives unmanageable. Various labels are applied to this disorder: compulsive sexual behavior or sexual addiction. These terms are used interchangeably psychologists.

The sexually compulsive person is faced with two dilemmas in coming to terms with sexually compulsive behavior. First, the male is culturally rewarded for sexual prowess; the female is rewarded for control. Second, the male is culturally rewarded for being the aggressor in sexual contact; the female is rewarded for being conquered. For a person to admit that his or her sexual behavior is out of control is to lose a major role affirmation (that being masculine is to be sexually active and that being female is to be sexually submissive). For the patient to admit that his aggressive sexual behavior or her passivity accounts only for his or her needs is to lose another major affirmation (sexual expression is a right given to every male in spite of its impact on others, and sexual submission is the duty of every female). While the patients resistance to the notion that his or her sexual behavior is out of control is understandable, when the patient comes to terms with his or her behavior, he or she can recognize the possibility of controlling behavior.

It is this empowerment that enables the patient to experience a sense of manageability over addictive behavior. Psychology is now in the very early stages of development in understanding and conceptualizing sexual behavior that has been labeled variously as compulsive, addictive, or impulsive in nature. Very few empirical data exist, yet treatment has proliferated to a point where there are now specialists in sexual addiction, specialized inpatient units for treatment of sexual dependencies, and several self-help groups devoted to the disease of compulsive sexual behavior. Although sincere, well intentioned, and addressing an unidentified group of individuals troubled by their sexual behavior (but who have not sought help), various treatment approaches have tended to reify the condition of sexual addiction. Conceptual curiosity, empirical developments, and even thoughtful assessment and treatment have been stymied, and the field has become mired in confusion and controversy regarding description, classification, diagnosis, and treatment. This paper addresses the nature of compulsive sexual behavior, traces the development and confusion associated with characterizing sexual activity that appears compulsive, impulsive, or addictive in nature to diagnose the disease.

The paper reviews important issues and directions in description, classification, etiology of compulsive sexual behavior, which will make possible to define whether such a behavior is caused by disease or not. Men and women who display high levels of sexual desire and engage in frequent and varied sexual activities have always been viewed by society with either fascination and admiration, or fear and degradation. Ambivalence about such behavior is reflected in society's exploitation of the power of sex and in its pathological or pejorative labeling of these activities. In general, such individuals have been considered hyper sexual (Masters, Johnson & Kolodny 1986). More pejoratively, individual labeling is demonstrated by use of the sexist term nymphomania, which, incidentally, has had greater popularity and has experienced a longer and more detailed psychiatric history than its male counterpart, satyriasis (Levine 1982). Societal ambivalence about excessive sexual drive and behavior has helped to generate a lexicon of various terms, which are unclear, ambiguous, and ultimately destructive.

Not surprisingly, the use of terms to label the sexual activities of men and women has functioned to censor and to control individual sexual behavior. This pattern is at odds with the tenets of scientific psychopathology, even though it is impossible always to separate sociology from science. A good example is the demythologizing of homosexuality by the American Psychiatric Association in 1974. After a heated and lengthy debate, the organization voted to remove the term from the official psychiatric nomenclature in the second edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II: APA 1968). However, by the time the next edition was published (DSM-III: APA 1980), a compromise term was included: ego-dystonia homosexuality.

A question is whether hyper sexual individuals suffer from a disorder or illness or are just more endowed sexually is still open. The question reflects the age-old problem of defining sexual normality and has been addressed by numerous authors. The range and variation of human sexual activity make it impossible arbitrarily to define an individuals sexual behavior as abnormal or pathological based on inclination or frequency alone. Despite data from statistical surveys and diverse observations, the normal parameters of human sexual behavior have yet to be established (Lazarus 1988).

Irrational sexual desire is only one part of the picture. Consistent with this multivariate perspective, it is likely that a field of sexual activity exists that is at least partially independent of sexual desire. Clinically, it is possible to elaborate by using the example regarding partner discrepancies in desire. For example, it is a commonly reported pattern that one partner with a relatively lower level of sexual desire may engage -- at least temporarily in more frequent and varied sexual activity in order to avoid conflict and / or to satisfy a demanding partner who exhibits a relatively higher level of sexual desire.

There is also the commonly reported scenario of the insecure males engaging in frequent sexual intercourse with multiple partners -- not because of high levels of sexual desire but as a way of self-validation and shoring up a low self-esteem. Some individuals may engage in frequent sex primarily as a way to relieve tension or cope with loneliness. These examples point to the fact that people may engage in higher levels of sexual activity as a function of factors other than sexual desire per se, and they may help to explain why the concept of hyper sexuality remains a clinical enigma and one of the most controversial topics in clinical science. Moreover, this is why Lazarus (1988) has viewed hyperactive sexual desire as a relatively rare disorder: Basically, very few individuals experience an excessive or constant desire for sex per se; most who are viewed as sexually hyperactive tend to rely on sexual outlets to relieve discomfort (be it tension, insecurity, anxiety, or any other negative states of mind) (Lazarus 1988, pp. 146 - 147).

Claiming a healthy sense of sexuality is difficult for even the healthiest person. For sexual addicts who have been victimized through abuse, neglect, and lack of sexual education, that task can seem impossible. A period of abstinence allows people to identify the nature of their sexual energy. In refraining from sexual activity, the addict is given a chance to develop a sense of choice in the area of sexual behavior, which allows psychologists to determine the sexual behavior of that patient. If there is the absence of choice it is possible to state that the patient is sexually addicted. In choosing to abstain from sexual activity, the addict is able to begin healing traumas that have been perpetrated by and against him or her.

Patterns of re injury, repetition-compulsion, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors are able to be identified. When this is done in the context of individual therapy sessions or group settings, the addict is no longer able to victimize the self through isolation. This act alone begins to heal the sexual shame that the addict lives with. It is important to note that the beliefs about sexuality hold true for both heterosexuals and homosexuals. The treatment of homosexuals requires, however, a solid understanding of healthy gay and lesbian development and the recognition that to impose the heterosexual model of relationship on homosexual couples is detrimental to the sexual health of the latter. Perhaps the greatest risk that is faced when suggesting that a sexual addict participate in an abstinence contract is the risk that the addict will move from a position of compulsive sexual behavior to compulsive sexual abstinence.

This is often the case in the early stages of recovery, but it is precisely this pitfall that must be guarded against. To move from one extreme to another simply perpetuates the compulsive behavior. The purpose of entering into a period of abstinence is to provide a way for understanding and identifying the compulsive sexual behavior. American cultural values maintain that people have no control over their sexual energy and, therefore, are at the mercy of the physiology of the body.

The notion that one cannot have a sense of control over ones physiology simply validates that continued acts of compulsive sexual behavior are to be expected. For the addict, however, the question of what triggers the sexual response cycle is central to recovery. Perhaps the most powerful way to begin to identify the triggers is through sexual abstinence. Frequent sexual encounters with multiple partners, habitual use of pornographic materials, habitual frequenting of X-rated theaters and bookstores, and anonymous sex in public places identify compulsive sexual behavior as a disease. Coleman (1992) has divided compulsive sexual behaviors into two types, paraphiliac and nonparaphilic. Finally, clinical impression suggests that the behavioral pattern may reflect heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual activities.

Unlike more traditional descriptions of hyper sexual behavior, which are more gender specific (e. g. , nymphomania), clinical impressions suggest that a similar pattern of behavior may occur in women. Coleman (1986, 1990) argues that application of the addiction concept is fraught with difficulties, including (1) inadequate empirical support for the addiction theory -- particularly as it is applied to non-pharmacologic substances (e. g. , food) and mood-altering activities (e. g. , gambling, sex); (2) the tendency of the addiction model to oversimplify complex phenomena and to de emphasize concurrent conditions (e. g. , mood disorder); and (3) its consequent adherence to a binary, lifelong classification that fails to appreciate the reality of individual differences and variations in human sexual behavior.

Paraphilic behaviors appear addictive, is also critical of the addiction model, particularly with regard to the assumption of disease-related progression, that is, the inherent escalation or progression from one form of sexual behavior to a more deviant and dangerous type. Coleman (1990) describes an obsessive-compulsive (OCD) model, which views pathological hyper sexuality as a symptom of an underlying obsessive compulsive disorder in which the anxiety-driven behavior happens to be sexual in nature (p. 12). Coleman notes that at first glance, this model may be criticized because in classic OCD, the obsessions and compulsions center on an unpleasant or not pleasurable activity in which the individual feels compelled to engage in order to decrease anxiety. However, Coleman contends that individuals with Compulsive Sexual Behavior rarely report pleasure in their obsessions or compulsive behavior (p. 12) This is at odds with recent clinical experience and that of psychologists who have noted that impulsive sexual activities are rarely associated with pleasure or positive reinforcement for some people. The diagnosis of compulsive sexual behavior, which is disease, while less theoretically biased, also raises questions regarding the definition of compulsion as being associated typically with an unpleasant activity and not with behaviors that are intrinsically enjoyable and pleasurable. Goldberg (1987) has remarked that hyper sexual behavior is not an uncommon symptom among patients with certain personality disorders.

While the DSM-IV notes that a feature of borderline personality disorder may be impulsive sexual behavior, Goldberg also includes sociopathic, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorder in his clinical experience. Coleman (1992) reports that certain types of nonparaphilic compulsive sexual behavior (e. g. , compulsive masturbation), may be comorbid with schizoid and avoid ant personality disorders. Similarly, he suggests that compulsive multiple love relationships may be comorbid with narcissistic and dependent personality disorder. It must also be recognized that many individuals repeatedly manifest irrational sexual activities even when opportunities seem absent or against social dictates to the extent they put their social life, if not their actual physical life, in jeopardy. These behaviors are expressed as compulsive and self-generated and arising from within.

The common point addressing sexual behavior is the duality of human sexuality. Sex is pleasurable, true, but it is also necessary for the survival of the human species. The long-standing tension between the procreative and the pleasurable aspects of sex has befuddled psychologists for many years. The failure to adequately resolve this conflict has resulted in the conceptual muddle of the present day. Irrational sexual drive is caused by compulsive sexual disorder.

The study of compulsive sexual behavior provides evidence that such a behavior is a disease. Having broken patterns of compulsive behavior that had been in place for years, at some point the individual decides that it is time to explore a relationship. Again, within the context of a supportive and nurturing community, the individual is able to examine, celebrate, and deliberate over what involves healthy sexual choice. These choices are not made under the influence of an external authority. Rather, they are made from a sense of empowerment that comes from understanding the motivations behind sexual energy and an understanding of the individuals sexual value system, which supports the thesis that compulsive sexual behavior is a disease. Bibliography: American Psychiatric Association. (1994).

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4 th Ed. ). Washington, DC: Author. Coleman E. (1986). "Sexual compulsion vs. sexual addiction: The debate continues." SIECUS Report, 14, 7 - 10. Goldberg M. (1987).

Understanding hyper sexuality in men and women. In G. R. Weeks & L. Hof (Eds. ), Integrating sex and marital therapy (pp. 202 - 220). New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Lazarus A. A. (1988). A multimodal perspective on problems of sexual desire. In S. R. Leiblum & R.

C. Rosen (Eds. ), Sexual desire disorders (pp. 145 - 167). New York: Guilford Press. Levine M. P. , & Trodden R.

R. (1988). "The myth of sexual compulsively." Journal of Sex Research, 25, 347 - 363. Masters W. H. , Johnson V. E. , & Kolodny R.

C. (1986). Masters and Johnson on sex and human loving. Boston: Little, Brown.


Free research essays on topics related to: diagnostic and statistical manual, obsessive compulsive, sexual behavior, american psychiatric association, statistical manual of mental disorders

Research essay sample on Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disease Or Not

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