Compulsive sexual behavior is sometimes referred to as sexual addiction, hypersexuality or hypersexuality disorder. The problem involves an excessive preoccupation with an individual with frequent sexual urges, fantasies, and behaviors, which are often difficult to handle, cause a high level of distress and affect your entire life in a negative way. In other words, hypersexuality may cause many big problems in your health, relationships and job.(1)
What Is The Best Treatment For Hypersexuality?
Treatment to cure hypersexuality or compulsive sexual behavior mainly consists of self-help groups, medications, and psychotherapy. The main objective behind the treatment is to assist patients in managing their urges and reducing their extreme behaviors. In simple words, the treatment aims to maintain healthy sexual actions.
Also, you have to undergo additional treatment to deal with your mental health in the case you have compulsive sexual behavior disorder. Besides, many people suffering from hypersexuality often have drug or alcohol abuse, along with other similar types of problems, like depression or anxiety, which require proper treatment.
Medications To Treat Hypersexuality
Doctors recommend you few specific medications, which act on your brain chemicals related to obsessive behaviors and thoughts to reduce your sexual urges or to control your behaviors. However, the selection of medications depends solely on your present situation and your existing mental health conditions. In most of the cases, doctors prescribe either of the following medications-
Antidepressants: Antidepressants help you in the treatment of anxiety, depression or obsessive form of compulsive disorder i.e. hypersexuality issues.
Anti-Androgens: Anti-androgen medications will reduce the biological effects i.e. androgens or related sex hormones found in men. As these medications reduce sexual urges, they can be used in men experiencing hypersexuality in its dangerous form.
Mood Stabilizers: These medicines are useful for the treatment of bipolar disorder but also work to reduce your urge to involve in compulsive sexual behavior.
Vivitrol Or Naltrexone: This medicine intends to treat your opiate and alcohol dependence, while blocks a specific part of the brain, which feels pleasure via specific addictive behaviors. Simultaneously, the medicine helps you to control behavioral addictions related to compulsive sexual behavior disorder, like gambling disorder or sexual behavior.
Psychotherapy To Treat Hypersexuality
Psychotherapy or talk therapy may help you in learning the way to manage your conditions related to compulsive sexual behavior. In most of the cases, you have to undergo with psychotherapy in following ways-
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: This type of therapy intends to create awareness about your unconscious behaviors and thoughts, to develop many new insights into your existing motivations and to resolve conflicts.
Acceptance And Commitment Therapies: The combination of the mentioned therapies emphasizes the acceptance of your urges and thoughts while letting you stay committed to various strategies, which may help you to take the necessary actions according to important values.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: CBT i.e. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps you in the identification of negative and unhealthy beliefs as well as behaviors while replacing the same with large numbers of adaptive coping methods. You learn many strategies to make sexual behaviors less private and prevent you to access any of the sexual content easily.
Doctors may provide you therapy treatments in couples, individuals, family and group format.
Self-Help And Support Groups: The combination of self-help groups and support groups is helpful for all individuals suffering from compulsive sexual behavior and for handling a few of the specific problems. Accordingly, you will find most of the groups as modeled after a systematic program by Alcoholics Anonymous.
These groups mainly help you to gain knowledge about a specific type of disorder, get the necessary support and understanding related to your condition. Also, the group helps you to identify the required coping behaviors and to prevent the relapse of your hypersexuality disorder.(2)
Conclusion
The best treatment to cure or manage hypersexuality related symptoms depends solely on the existing condition of a patient.
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