Sex addiction divides mental health experts
The American Psychiatric Assn. has proposed that out-of-control sexual appetites be included as a diagnosis in the next edition of the psychiatrists’ bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, to be published in 2013.
Unlike compulsive gambling, which also is proposed for addition to the new DSM (to be called DSM-5), the proposed diagnosis—hypersexual disorder—stops short of categorizing the problem as an addiction, and for a reason.
“If we are looking at a disorder, it’s not clear what that disorder is,” said Michael Miner, a professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Minnesota who advised the DSM-5 committee on sexual disorders. “There is not an agreed-upon name. The research is in its infancy.”
