Sex addiction and conceptual pathway for healing

– Malaysian perspective
Professor Dr. Hatta Sidi (Malaysia)

Abstract

Is sex addiction real? This is important area of mental health problem. It justifies serious
medical attention. Is it addiction or not, sex addiction has become conundrum to
psychiatry understanding of human behaviour. This is “new” terminology, a new
area of psychiatric perspective to our local Malaysians, and also new to our
developing Asian countries, need to be addressed in scientific manner. Some
researchers do not believe in existence of the medical entity, and rather would like
to conceptualize it as a form of hypersexual disorder (HD) and probably a spectrum
of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

In this context, we try to speculate local research findings on sexual response cycle
(SRC) with some of our preliminary qualitative analysis to comprehend this unique
medical condition. In the era of internet connections and cyber world, sex addiction
became an important area to be understood and be dealt with. We also highlight some
fundamental concepts of journey to recovery, which may be beneficial to our patients.