Celebrity Sex Addiction: Is it Just a Cop-Out?

First it was David Duchovny. Now Tiger Woods has also reportedly entered rehab for his alleged sex addiction.

By Dena Afrasiabi

First it was David Duchovny. Now Tiger Woods has reportedly entered rehab for his alleged sex addiction. Last November, VH1 even started a show about it, called "Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew," a spin-off of "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew," featuring addiction expert Drew Pinsky. In the past, actors like Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen and Billy Bob Thornton along with rapper Kanye West have all been known to grapple with sex addiction. Despite the proliferation of rehab programs offering treatment for sex addiction, programs like "Gentle Path," at Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services, the facility treating Tiger Woods, and the Sexual Recovery Institute in Southern California, much controversy still surrounds the idea of treating sex addiction as a real illness, similar to drug addiction or alcoholism.

The term sex addict has only been around since 1983, but it still has not been included as a psychiatric disorder in the DSM IV, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders. Some professionals working with other addictions claim that sex creates as much of a chemical dependency as an addictive substance. Sex addiction may involve compulsive sex with strangers, porn addiction, or obsessive masturbation among other manifestations. The definition of sex addiction, according to the National Council on Sex Addiction and Compulsivity is "engaging in persistent and escalating patterns of sexual behavior acted out despite increasing negative consequences to self and others."

People usually seek help for sexual addiction when their behaviors begin to interfere with their ability to function in their lives, lead to problems in their relationships or cause financial difficulties. The "Gentle Path" at Pine Grove offers a six-week program with a special focus on "working through past trauma and family problems." The program consists of group therapy, weekly psychiatric consultation, twelve step work, an exercise and fitness program and shame reduction among other treatments designed to help patients achieve "freedom from compulsive behaviors and develop a sense of healthy sexuality." Some insist sex addiction is just a cop-out for irresponsible behavior, like cheating on a spouse while others, like sex columnist Dan Savage, believe the concept of sex addiction is another way to create shame around sexuality, a euphemism for "sex they disapprove of for moral reasons."