GoodMan,

I think this is good topic of conversation and there are many people out there who suffer from sexual addictions and most don't see it as a problem, I think it's down to how you view it and how it effects your life.

In some sections of society it is accepted, for instance here in London, the outgoing gay community genrally do not beleive there is such a thing as a sexual addiction. I personally know one or two people who will go out of their to satisfy that addiction, the thing is they do not hide it, nor does it shame them and it effectively is part of who they are... Good or bad??? I don't know.

I suffer from a sexual addiction, I recognise it as that because it affected me emotionally and I felt I was doing wrong, and feared it will escalate. I used to try and hide the fact that I had the problem, until it was noticed by my friends. That was when I became psychotic, the guilt, the denial, the feeling of worthlessness and worst of all I was going against what I thought was right, this took me over the edge. I was forced unwillingly by my firends to disclose all to my wife, I did so gradually until eventually, about 1.5 years later I have nothing to hide from her and feel a lot better as a result. I feared the worst but she has stood by me and has helped me break the thought process.

Socially I am effected, I take coversation as enuendo that leads, somhow to my problem. The root of my paranoia.

The toughest thing is control, most will not understand that it is, a deep addiction that whips up a huge internal storm of emotion and how difficult it is to control something that controls you. I try nip it in the bud and stiffle the intiial thought before it manifests itself in action.

The battle is best described as:

Inhabition <-------------------- vs -----------------------> Excitation

If your excitation wins the internal struggle, your inhabition blames you and fights back in the form of guilt. I try focus on feeding my inhabition and retain my excitation for my wife.

The best thing that happened to me was recognising it, now I deal with it, it's not easy but we are all the masters of our own minds!

The BIG question is why do some of us have such a problem with it, is it conflict between upbrigning and todays accepting society, is it a conflict between moral values and our own actions? I read somewhere before that if we go against our values we should either: Change our values or stop doing the things that you feel are against those values...

Good luck! Hope this helps...