Sexual Addiction – Complex, Often Misunderstood Issue

The Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH) defines sexual addiction as “a persistent and escalating pattern or patterns of sexual behaviour acted out despite increasingly negative consequences to self and others.” Sexual addiction can take many forms, including masturbation addiction, pornography addiction and other out of control repetitive behaviours like exhibitionism, multiple affairs and prostitution. SASH estimates that between 3-5% of Americans suffer from sexual addiction based on the amount of individuals who seek treatment.

Sexual addiction is similar to other addictions in many ways. Sex addicts can have a family history of addiction and suffer from multiple addictions at the same time. Sexual addiction changes brain chemistry and the consequences of this addiction can be devastating. Addiction researchers now employ search frequency research to help keep pace with this complex and controversial issue.

Sex Addicts Anonymous – Variety of 12 Step Programs Available

Sex Addicts Anonymous was founded in 1977 and models itself after the original 12 Step program, Alcoholics Anonymous. This popular form of fellowship brings together individuals coping with similar addictions for support and guidance. Graph 1 below shows a considerable amount of searches for “sex addicts anonymous” (15,423). Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, a different support group, received only 2,282 queries; a difference of 13,141. Sexual Compulsives Anonymous, Sexual Recovery Anonymous and Sexaholics Anonymous did not even make the graphs.

Sexual Addiction - Prevalent Search Topics - Graph 1

(Continued on Graph 3 at the bottom of this page)

Top 30 two and three word combinations

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		130,000
sexual addiction	118439
sex addiction	91926
porn addiction	84600
sex addict	64160
sex addicts	63199
pornography addiction	23301
sex addicts anonymous	15423
addiction and sex	14246
sexual addiction support	8928
sexual addiction support groups	8412
stop porn addiction	8066
masturbation addiction	7946
signs of sexual addiction	7718
internet porn	7679
internet porn addiction	7467
sexual addictions	7036
sex addictions	5933
porno addiction	5167
female sex	4071
sexual addiction treatment	3584
teen sex	3155
overcoming sexual addiction	2936
teen sex addict	2758
porn addict	2731
addiction to porn	2531
sex addict women	2374
female sex addict	2332
sexual addiction recovery	2302
sex love	2282
pornography addiction help	2245
	0		130,000

Porn Addiction – Major Component of Sexual Addiction

Porn addiction is a particularly common form of sexual addiction. According to the Internet Filter Review, worldwide porn industry revenue for 2006 was $97 billion. In the same year, 10% of individuals admitted an Internet sexual addiction. Clearly, with 84,600 searches, porn addiction is a prevalent issue to many Internet users. “Masturbation addiction” (7,946) received 76,654 fewer searches.

Other prominent searches include gender or age specific sexual addiction searches, as well as a number of different searches for sexual addiction screening and quizzes.

Sexual Addiction Market Research - Graph 2

Top 100 words used in sexual addiction searches
(Top 1000 can be found at Top 100 sexual addiction exact phrases and top 1,000 concepts/words. - Graph 5)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		370,000
addiction	354676
sex	246181
sexual	127423
porn	94718
addicts	69915
addict	69222
pornography	27938
anonymous	21396
addictions	16228
help	13014
internet	11852
signs	10810
support	10781
masturbation	10504
groups	9508
stop	8396
love	6060
female	5495
porno	5203
women	4957
treatment	4743
recovery	4280
symptoms	3988
overcoming	3806
teen	3235
how	3086
what	2785
counseling	2758
diary	2149
chat	2092
causes	1899
breaking	1893
test	1751
from	1624
disorder	1555
break	1518
phone	1479
anonomous	1285
screening	1252
compulsive	1102
obsesive	1095
who	1051
christian	1044
cyber	1034
men	1008
quiz	990
meetings	986
male	982
drug	967
statistics	834
colorado	798
blog	780
overcome	770
teenagers	739
woman	695
denver	684
articles	673
marriage	668
group	649
annonymous	616
wives	600
poem	586
affects	568
fighting	564
types	563
dating	561
hardcore	550
michigan	550
history	550
nh	548
online	504
local	491
beat	485
living	480
girl	444
spouses	429
spouse	418
definition	407
co	407
center	385
about	385
clinic	383
compulsivity	380
annonomous	376
stories	370
high	369
school	366
pictures	321
cure	309
interventions	305
room	299
cincinnati	294
adolescents	279
famous	278
florida	276
asian	276
bipolar	242
photos	226
lohan	221
lindsey	219
	0		370,000

Ground-Breaking Sexual Addictions Research

Search frequency research is one of the newest, most innovative ways in which addictions researchers are learning more about sexual addiction. Through generous sponsorship by Clear Haven Center, a forward-thinking drug and alcohol treatment facility who recognizes connections between addictions, online query studies are shedding new light on this complex issue.

Sexual Addiction - Prevalent Search Topics, Continued - Graph 3

Top 31 - 100 two and three word combinations
(Top 30 are in Graph 1 above)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	500		2300
sexual addiction counseling	2164
sex and love	2144
internet sex	2071
internet sex addiction	2067
porn addiction help	1935
sex addicts chat	1929
sexual addiction help	1863
internet pornography	1743
sex and love addicts	1740
porn addictions	1734
female sex addicts	1727
internet pornography addiction	1698
sex addiction symptoms	1680
sex love addiction	1667
porn addicts	1568
pornography addicts	1534
love sex	1482
phone sex	1475
phone sex addiction	1469
sexual addiction anonymous	1466
recovery from sexual addiction	1463
addiction to pornography	1388
sex addicts anonomous	1282
sexual addiction screening	1252
sexual addiction screening test	1248
sexual addiction to pornography	1208
sexual addicts	1161
what is sexual addiction	1120
help for pornography	1113
sexual addicts anonymous	1113
help for pornography addiction	1113
sex addiction in women	1107
causes of sex addiction	1099
addiction to sex	991
sex addiction treatment	982
sex addiction help	968
sex addict quiz	939
signs of porn addiction	935
male sex	922
cyber sex	920
women who love sex	919
cyber sex addiction	916
overcoming porn addiction	832
pornography addictions	830
help pornography addiction	805
porn addiction support	757
breaking porn addiction	748
porn addiction support groups	747
masturbation addict	747
sexual addiction in teenagers	736
female porn	734
symptoms of porn addiction	733
female porn addict	731
sex addiction blog	730
addiction sex	682
woman sex	679
woman sex addict	676
female sexual	666
female sexual addiction	665
sex addict symptoms	645
addiction porn	591
addiction pornography	584
help for porn addiction	573
sex love addicts	573
break porn addiction	567
sex addicts annonymous	567
wives of pornography addicts	565
wives of pornography	565
pornography addiction support	561
sex love addicts anonymous	559
	500		2300