Sex, Addiction, and the Missing Peace Podcast: Controversy over Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder vs. Sexual Addiction
In this episode of Sex, Addiction, and the Missing Peace, host Ken Donaldson talks about some controversies. Specifically over the labeling of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder versus Sexual Addiction. Ken reviews content directly from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). This is considered the “bible” of all psychological diagnoses used in the U.S. He then goes to the American Psychiatric Association’s (the APA; they are the authors of the DSM) website and compares and contrasts some confusing terminologies and semantics.
Ken then looks at the diagnosis of Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder. This is a diagnosis from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Ken compares the languaging differences and similarities.
Ken reviews the symptoms from the diagnoses of Gambling Disorder and Substance Use Disorder directly from the APA website. His conclusion? The APA’s DSM symptoms are strikingly similar to that of WHO’s ICD.
All of this backstory is to ask the question: Why has there so much time and energy spent on arguing? Arguing about what? About the labels. This same time and energy could be used more constructively on prevention and early intervention of sexual addiction!
Sex addiction.
Two words put side-by-side that cause
SO much controversy.
Sexual addiction has long been misunderstood, misinterpreted, and, sadly, misdiagnosed. There are many arguments in the mental health and addiction communities on the proper labeling and classification of sexual addiction. As a result, sexual addiction is not even recognized as an official diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association. The World Health Organization, on the other hand, prefers to label it as “Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder.”
Ken plans to do something rather than join the “sex addiction” argument. Stay tuned to see what all he plans to do!