It is believed that between 3% to 6% of the population is afflicted with sex addiction which renown sex addiction researcher Dr. Patrick Carnes defines as intense sexually arousing fantasies, urges and behaviors that is uncontrollable regardless of the ramifications of the behavior.
Women are less likely to seek help with this problem given the overwhelming shame they feel made worse by the negative connotations of words applied to such behavior like “slut” and “promiscuity” when applied to a female.
It so happens that women fantasize about being sexual in public, picking up a stranger with whom to have anonymous encounters, as well as spending many hours on the internet looking at pornography similar to their male counterparts. Some women spend hours online in chat rooms interacting with men while some women have many affairs while still others engage in exhibitionism and dangerous sexual practices.
All addictions are formed in the brain where the neurotransmitter dopamine is released into action bringing with it the great feelings of pleasure. Because of this biology, the addiction brings cravings for the rewarding experiences without regard to any negative consequences involved in the behavior. This is based on research that was done on addictions at the National Institute of Health Drug Addictions (NIDA) reported by it’s director Nora Volkow.
There are many possible reasons why there is an increase in sexual addiction in women including the ease of interacting on the internet, women feeling more free to do as they chose in society earning their own way in life, and of course there is the whole issue of being sexually violated at some point in their lives. The U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics from 2009 revealed that in 2008 females age 12 or older experienced an estimated 182,000 rapes or sexual assaults, while males experienced 40,000 rapes or sexual assaults.
To know if you have this problem you only need to ask yourself if your behavior is making you ashamed of yourself? Is your sex seeking behavior sucking so many hours of your day that it is intruding on the normal healthy activities of living? Are you spending more money than you can afford seeking to act on your urges? Lastly, are you living what you would call a “double life” as you work to avoid anyone in your life finding out about these sexual activities?
It is only when one gets real with themselves that it is possible to deal with the problem. The good news is that it is most definitely treatable to the point where you can indeed be sex addiction free should you go for help. I have helped many sex addicts as well as women who wanted to exit the sex trade becoming free of all of the thoughts and behaviors involved in sex addiction using a fairly straight forward program which released them from this problem in a matter of a month or less of out patient treatment.
Hypnosis and NLP are the way to go because with this treatment you are able to most easily access the part of your mind that creates the urges and behaviors that got you into this situation. The hypnotic state is an altered state by definition so any negative emotions or forgiveness work that would need to be done would be less emotionally trying in that state. Interestingly enough one is in a hypnotic state as one is surfing the internet or cruising for sexual partners according to Dr. Carnes’s research. All I do is use that same hypnotic state to help you to let go of the problem permanently.
If you choose to seek work with a hypnotist or NLP practitioner regarding this issue, please make sure they are able to prove to you that they have had success in freeing others from this addiction.
