Hi again and welcome back to the savvy psychologist. I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson and as usual

I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

Is sex addiction a real thing or just an excuse for beer goggles and lack of self-control. And why is demand for help with sex addiction

on the rise? No pun intended. This week we'll talk about six signs of sex addiction and how to know if you have merely a supercharged libido or a problem.

Okay, although sex addiction is the name, researchers and clinicians still debate about what exactly constitutes the game.

A few years ago, there was an effort to add a brand new diagnosis of hypersexual disorder to the list of official psychiatric diagnoses,

but ultimately the attempt was rejected.

So left without a legitimate diagnosis, those suffering do their best to get

help for a problem without a name or consistent description. But whatever you call it, it's a real thing.

And sex addiction is more than just spending too much time at the mall

and calling yourself a shopaholic,

or eating too much gadaiva and calling yourself a chocaholic.

Indeed, there is research to suggest that sex addiction is not unlike drug addiction.

A study out of none other than the University of Cambridge found the same engagement of several

brain areas all involved in reward and motivation in people

with compulsive sexual behavior as was previously found in people struggling

with drug addiction. But sex addiction is particularly hard to talk about,

double entendre alert, because it quickly slides into the realm of moralizing.

Is the behavior really a problem, or just a problem to judgmental prudes?

Well, here are six ways to tell if your sex life is ruining your actual life.

Feature number one is it gets in the way. A high number of sexual partners isn't inherently

pathological. Instead, the problem lies in something called congruence.

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