ABSTRACT
Sexual addiction is thought to affect an estimated 6% of the adult population in the United States (Kafka, 2010), although there are no widespread studies to support this claim (Rosenberg, Carnes, & O’Connor, 2014). The efforts to understand, assess, and treat sexual addiction continue by both those who are directly impacted, as well as family members of sex addicts. Aside from the personal desperation that sex addicts often report, there are also public health concerns related to high frequency sexual behavior and the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (Benotsch, Kalichman, & Pinkerton, 2001). This same study reported a moderate number of subjects (33%) who also used drugs as part of their pattern of behaviors. A study in New Zealand examined results from over 900 subjects and reported that while 13% of males and 7% of females report feeling their sexual thoughts, fantasies, and behaviors were out of control over the past year, only 4% of males and 2% of females felt that their behavior had signifi cant negative consequences in their life (Skegg, Nada-Raja, Dickson, & Paul, 2010). Finally, Cooper, Delmonico, and Burg (2000) found similar results when surveying individuals who reported problematic sexual behavior on the Internet, with nearly 20% of subjects being at-risk for compulsive sexual behavior online, and 3% reporting both a combined Internet sex addiction and offl ine sexual addiction.
