Should compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) be considered as a behavioral addiction? A debate paper presenting the opposing view

Background and aims: Compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) has been a long debated issue. While formerly the discussion was about whether to regard CSBD as a distinctive disorder, the current debate is dealing with the classification of this phenomenon. One of the prominent voices in this field considers CSBD as a behavioral addiction and proposes CSBD to be called and diagnosed as sexual addiction (SA). This present debate paper will review the existing evidence supporting this view and it will argue against it. Results: We have found that a great deal of the current literature is anecdotal while empirical evidence is insufficient. First, the reports about the prevalence of CSBD are contradictory. Additionally, the field mainly suffers from inconsistent defining criteria of CSBD and a consensus which symptoms should be included. As a result, the empirical evidence that does exist is mostly about some symptoms individually and not on the disorder as a whole construct. Conclusions: We conclude that currently, there is not enough data supporting CSBD as a behavioral addiction. Further research has to be done, examining CSBD phenomenology as a whole construct and based on a homogeneous criterion.

Automated summary

There is currently insufficient evidence to support the classification of compulsive sexual behavior disorder as a behavioral addiction. Most of the existing literature relies on anecdotal evidence and lacks a consensus on defining criteria. The available empirical evidence mainly focuses on individual symptoms rather than the disorder as a whole construct.