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Compulsive Sexual Behaviour Disorder is not an addiction. The Wikipedia article that you cited begins with the following sentence: “Pornography addiction is the

Compulsive Sexual Behaviour Disorder is not an addiction. The Wikipedia article that you cited begins with the following sentence: “Pornography addiction is the popular but unscientific[5] application of an addiction model to the use of pornography.” [5] Science Stopped Believing in Porn Addiction. You Should, Too. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/201808/science-stopped-believing-in-porn-addiction-you-should-too https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/2018...

AlecSchueler 3y ago
I'd love to stop believing in it but it's destroyed a large part of my life. The issue with defining it as an addiction is more of a question of separating from other compulsive issues than not recognising the compulsive issues of the thing itself. Yes, I understand there's a difference between compulsion and addiction but I'd expect the users of Hacker News to understand enough about how the dopamine system works to see the relationship between the two.
- laserlight 3y ago
  I'm sorry for your struggles. I hope that you are doing better.
  - AlecSchueler 3y ago
    Thank you, I greatly appreciatie your well wishes and the human sentiment behind your remark. I'm glad to have places like this and people like yourself that challenge my beliefs, even when, or especially when, they are rooted in my personal experience.
- rootusrootus 3y ago
  > I'd love to stop believing in it but it's destroyed a large part of my life. With all due respect, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that you destroyed a large part of your life? It seems like you're blaming porn, as if everyone who is exposed to it becomes addicted. Is it like heroin? Or is it more like alcohol, where many people consume it without becoming addicted, but a few people ruin their lives over it?
  - cmh89 3y ago
    >Is it like heroin? Or is it more like alcohol, where many people consume it without becoming addicted, but a few people ruin their lives over it? It's more like a TV addiction or a video game addiction where the over consumption is a coping mechanism for other things that are wrong in your life. Hence 'porn addiction' not really existing.
haldujai 3y ago
You're a bit overly focused on semantics here and misinterpreting the rationale behind it. Behavioral addictions are acknowledged in DSM-5 although this does not extend to compulsive sexual behavior at this time due to insufficient (yet growing) evidence to suggest similar neurophysiological mechanisms for a clinical textbook to label it as 'addiction' [0][2]. A recent review article breaks down the differences from gambling which is considered a behavioral addiction in DSM-5[1] and had not been in prior editions. Whether or not CSB/hypersexuality is an 'addiction' in the medical sense is controversial amongst medical experts and essentially interchangeable with what a layperson considers to be an addiction and it is therefore very reasonable especially noting the overlap of salience, conflict and relapse[1]. Although there is insufficient evidence at this time to conclude either way whether diminished satisfaction has a similar mechanism to tolerance or lack of control has a similar mechanism to withdrawal there is also no strong evidence to support the argument that CSB is not an addiction and consequently they are currently treated as separate entities. The pertinence of this is to not conflate conflicting/controversial expert opinion with generally regarded truth and therefore stating that parent is 'wrong' for believing it is addiction when many experts share the same opinion[3]. [0] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/add.13297 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/add.13297 [1] https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/11/2/article-p166.xml https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/11/2/article-p166.... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4677151/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4677151/ [3] https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/11/2/article-p210.xml https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/11/2/article-p210....

AlecSchueler 3y ago

I'd love to stop believing in it but it's destroyed a large part of my life. The issue with defining it as an addiction is more of a question of separating from other compulsive issues than not recognising the compulsive issues of the thing itself. Yes, I understand there's a difference between compulsion and addiction but I'd expect the users of Hacker News to understand enough about how the dopamine system works to see the relationship between the two.

laserlight 3y ago
I'm sorry for your struggles. I hope that you are doing better.
- AlecSchueler 3y ago
  Thank you, I greatly appreciatie your well wishes and the human sentiment behind your remark. I'm glad to have places like this and people like yourself that challenge my beliefs, even when, or especially when, they are rooted in my personal experience.
rootusrootus 3y ago
> I'd love to stop believing in it but it's destroyed a large part of my life. With all due respect, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that you destroyed a large part of your life? It seems like you're blaming porn, as if everyone who is exposed to it becomes addicted. Is it like heroin? Or is it more like alcohol, where many people consume it without becoming addicted, but a few people ruin their lives over it?
- cmh89 3y ago
  >Is it like heroin? Or is it more like alcohol, where many people consume it without becoming addicted, but a few people ruin their lives over it? It's more like a TV addiction or a video game addiction where the over consumption is a coping mechanism for other things that are wrong in your life. Hence 'porn addiction' not really existing.

haldujai 3y ago

You're a bit overly focused on semantics here and misinterpreting the rationale behind it. Behavioral addictions are acknowledged in DSM-5 although this does not extend to compulsive sexual behavior at this time due to insufficient (yet growing) evidence to suggest similar neurophysiological mechanisms for a clinical textbook to label it as 'addiction' [0][2]. A recent review article breaks down the differences from gambling which is considered a behavioral addiction in DSM-5[1] and had not been in prior editions. Whether or not CSB/hypersexuality is an 'addiction' in the medical sense is controversial amongst medical experts and essentially interchangeable with what a layperson considers to be an addiction and it is therefore very reasonable especially noting the overlap of salience, conflict and relapse[1]. Although there is insufficient evidence at this time to conclude either way whether diminished satisfaction has a similar mechanism to tolerance or lack of control has a similar mechanism to withdrawal there is also no strong evidence to support the argument that CSB is not an addiction and consequently they are currently treated as separate entities. The pertinence of this is to not conflate conflicting/controversial expert opinion with generally regarded truth and therefore stating that parent is 'wrong' for believing it is addiction when many experts share the same opinion[3]. [0] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/add.13297 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/add.13297 [1] https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/11/2/article-p166.xml https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/11/2/article-p166.... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4677151/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4677151/ [3] https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/11/2/article-p210.xml https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2006/11/2/article-p210....