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[0psych0]

Do you think sex addiction is a real mental illness? Why or why not?

Comments

[slinkslowdown]

Addiction is a mental illness, period. If a person is clinically addicted to something [not OMG I'M ADDICTED TO CHOCOLATE I JUST ATE 5 CANDY BARZZZZZZZ], then they have a mental illness.

[kimie_catclaw]

Yup

[miss_october]

Indeed. Addiction just manifests itself differently in people. For some it's food, others it's drugs, booze, shopping, sex,etc.

[xhallucinationx]

See, I don't believe you can be addicted to food either. Or, if you can, then everyone is addicted to food. You need it to LIVE. People can rely on it for comfort or punishment to the exclusion of other things for emotional or psychological reasons, but those reasons are the problem, not the food itself. Alcoholics may have reasons like this that they started drinking frequently (though they also might not), but once they're addicted it's the alcohol itself that's causing the problems and more addiction

[quirkmonster]

I am TRULY addicted to food.
Whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed with ANY emotion, whether it be anger or sadness or happiness, I go to food to numb myself...much like some people go to alcohol or drugs.

[xhallucinationx]

I'm sorry, that sounds unpleasant. If you're interested in this sort of thing, I was reading an article by a nutritionist the other day that gives supportive tips for dealing with emotional eating here (might or might not even apply, but I figured it was worth offering).

Of course, you're free to define your behavior however you want (I mean it, no snark). But I find that the way food addiction is talked about colloquially makes it a meaningless and inaccurate term, used to describe behaviors that do not follow the patterns or symptoms of addiction.

[1_2_suckerpunch]

Yepper.

[bdoing]

This.

Also, what a lot of people overlook is that addiction is not exclusively physical; sex addiction is (at least usually) psychological addiction.