Psychiatric Group Casts Wary Eye at 'Sex Addiction' - East Idaho News
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Psychiatric Group Casts Wary Eye at ‘Sex Addiction’

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Getty 050412 CoupleInBed?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1354878159916Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Folks who use the term “sex addiction” to describe their reasons for habitual sleeping around or other untoward behavior have been sort of undercut by the American Psychiatric Association.

That’s because the APA doesn’t view it as an official psychiatric disorder, at least not in its latest edition of the mental health handbook called Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The APA once labeled sex addiction as hypersexual disorder but that’s not even in the new book.

However, Rory Reid, a research psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, has led a study on hypersexual disorder, which he defines as “recurrent and intense sexual fantasies, sexual urges, and sexual behavior,” that lasts at least six months, which interferes with one’s day-to-day life.

Reid says in spite of the APA seemingly dismissing sexual addiction, he’ll still treat patients who complain it’s become burdensome for them.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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