Water Cooler

Sex Addiction: It's No Laughing Matter

Experts Say 10 Million American Suffer From Condition

NEW YORK (CBS) ― It's a problem a lot of people don't talk about, or even take too seriously for that matter, but actor David Duchovny is doing both after he checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic for a sex addiction.

Talk about irony: Duchovny plays a sex-obsessed character in the Showtime hit series "Californication," a story line that's now part of his real life.

When CBS 2 asked some people on the street about sex addiction, it got more of a humorous reaction that a serious one.

"That's not good, or it could be good, I don't know," joked Colorado Springs resident Nate Houston.

"If my partner had sex addiction I don't think I'd be complaining," said Bogota, N.J. resident Jen Ponton.

Experts say that's the problem, many people think sex addiction is a joke, but Dr. Brenda Shoshanna says it's very common and just as uncontrollable as any other addiction.

"They have to have sex, just the way someone has to have a drink, or a shot of coke, or heroin. It's a drug," says Dr. Brenda Shoshanna, a relationship expert.

The issue rarely makes headlines, until celebrities like Michael Douglas or Halle Berry's ex Eric Benet go public with their sexual addictions. This time it's Duchovny and his wife Tea Leoni who are in the spotlight. They've been married 11 years and have two children.

The problem often tears families apart, and experts say it's important to know the difference between a healthy sex drive and an addiction.

"With a sexual addiction, no matter how much sex you have it's never enough. You want more and you're not really satisfied, and also you need other partners," says Shoshanna. "Of course if they're in a relationship it's almost impossible to be monogamous, and that includes lying, cheating, pretending. They're very ashamed of it usually."

Experts say more than 10 million Americans suffer from the problem and the cause is the same as any other addiction: the need to numb emotional pain.

As far as treatment there are many recovery groups and therapists who specialize in sexual addiction, but Dr. Shoshanna says many people never get the help they need because they don't take the issue seriously.

For more information on sexual addiction, use the following resources: 

Click For Medicine Net.com
Click For Women Today Magazine
Click For Psych Central.com

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

---