Teenage Sex Addiction Treatment: Is It Effective?

Posted by Oxbow Academy on September 23rd, 2019

Compulsive sexual behavior and hypersexuality are given the name sex addiction, which means uncontrollable urge and dependency on salacious pleasure. By the term dependency, one means excessive involvement in behaviors and thoughts that trigger the desire. Statistics state that most teenagers with sexual addiction have come in light who even surpasses the number of adults and youths going through the same problem. Their behavior entails compulsive masturbation, multiple affairs, and viewing pornographic pictures and videos. However, these are just visible traits, and no one test indicates the definite signs of this disorder. Hence, many professionals utilize comprehensive medical, family, and mental health information for conducting teenage sex addiction therapy.

If seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist, teens can either get their physical examination performed by these professionals or lookout for a primary care doctor for the same. These medical examinations are performed to ascertain if there is any medical condition the teen is going through that has caused such mental health symptoms. Precisely, professionals try to understand through this step whether the patient is suffering from just sexual compulsion disorder or is also a victim of depression, anxiety, substance abuse disorder, and other behavioral disorders. However, sometimes it is even difficult for them to distinguish between salacious thirst and conditions associated with it like developmental disorders and personality disorder, which is why mental health professionals also perform mental-health examination.

Some teenagers also seek support from self-help recovery group, where therapists use cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to help them learn about individual triggers for such destructive behavior. Moreover, many professionals also use psychotherapy, which focuses on the internal emotional developmental difficulties that cause external hypersexuality. Moving on to medical solutions, serotonergic medication helps in alleviating the internal difficulties of the patient that cause compulsive urges. Although some would criticize the efficiency of this medication because of its common side effects, medical practitioners condemn that myth and state that side effects like diarrhea, nausea, agitation, headache, and insomnia are mild and go away within one month of its use.

Moreover, some mood stabilizers that work for OCD, particularly for bipolar disorder IQ, also diminish the impulsive behavior of a sex addict. Naltrexone is another medication available that is preferred by those individuals who look for celibacy to abstain from their compulsive sexual desires. Commonly used for decreasing the effects of narcotic medications, this medicine has proved to be useful in alleviating the addictions and arousal of sexual offenders.

Is it preventive?

More poor self-esteem is responsible for such addiction than any excessive thrill-seeking interventions; hence, anything done in the context of enhancing one’s self-esteem is worthwhile. Besides, educating parents on how to keep a check on their wards’ internet addiction by engaging them in productive chores, medical practitioners make teenage sex addiction treatment or therapy effective.