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Sex addiction on the rise in Singapore
sex addiction
Champion golfer Tiger Woods' treatment for sex addiction has trained the spotlight on the disorder.
But for people grappling with the problem, it is more than just a spicy subject of discussion in the office pantry, pub or restaurant.
Sex addicts here are treated as outpatients, and put through sessions of psychotherapy so that they develop coping strategies for dealing with their urges, said Dr Adrian Wang, a consultant psychiatrist in private practice.
Overseas, residential treatment programmes, such as the one Woods is in, are more common.
Another psychiatrist, Associate Professor Munidasa Winslow, who specialises in treating people with addictions, said he sees about 10 sex-addiction patients a month, of whom two are women.
The numbers offered by Dr Wang are similar: He estimates he has four to five times more male patients than female ones, and a new case every two to three months.
Prof Winslow gets one to two new patients a month.
At the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), the number of people seeking treatment for addictions of various types shot up more than five times, from 200 to more than 1,000, between 2002 and the last financial year.
But the IMH, which runs the 11/2-year-old outpatient National Addictions Management Service, declined to give a breakdown of the different addictions.
Dr Winslow said that when it comes to sex addiction in women, the problem tends to be tied to relationships or love, rather than pure sex.
Most women being treated for the problem tend to have had a history of childhood sexual abuse, he said.
But Dr Wang said the stigma of being treated for a mental problem puts sufferers off coming forward to seek treatment.
On average, addicts of sex or other vices struggle for four to eight years before seeking help.
Ignorance may be another reason the problem is under-treated.
Psychiatrists notice they get new patients each time the subject surfaces in the media. Some patients seek out doctors on their own, and others are brought in by loved ones.
Dr Winslow said he is now working with Dr Robert Weiss, the clinical director of the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, to gather ideas on how the treatment of addictions in Singapore can be strengthened.
Next month, he will start support groups for his patients' spouses or significant others, a group which traditional treatment programmes tend to neglect.
Levels of severity
LEVEL ONE
• Masturbation
• Watching pornography (with or without masturbation)
• Phone sex and/or cybersex
• Voyeurism - online or live
LEVEL TWO
• Chronic infidelity
• Sexual relationships with multiple partners
• Anonymous sex or one-night stands
• Paid sex
• Public sex (in bathrooms, parks, and so on)
• Frotteurism (rubbing one's genitalia against a person, usually a stranger)
• Stalking
LEVEL THREE
• Rape
• Child molestation/Paedophilia
• Viewing rape, snuff pornography
• Sexual abuse of older or dependent persons
• Incest
sex addiction
Champion golfer Tiger Woods' treatment for sex addiction has trained the spotlight on the disorder.
But for people grappling with the problem, it is more than just a spicy subject of discussion in the office pantry, pub or restaurant.
Sex addicts here are treated as outpatients, and put through sessions of psychotherapy so that they develop coping strategies for dealing with their urges, said Dr Adrian Wang, a consultant psychiatrist in private practice.
Overseas, residential treatment programmes, such as the one Woods is in, are more common.
Another psychiatrist, Associate Professor Munidasa Winslow, who specialises in treating people with addictions, said he sees about 10 sex-addiction patients a month, of whom two are women.
The numbers offered by Dr Wang are similar: He estimates he has four to five times more male patients than female ones, and a new case every two to three months.
Prof Winslow gets one to two new patients a month.
At the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), the number of people seeking treatment for addictions of various types shot up more than five times, from 200 to more than 1,000, between 2002 and the last financial year.
But the IMH, which runs the 11/2-year-old outpatient National Addictions Management Service, declined to give a breakdown of the different addictions.
Dr Winslow said that when it comes to sex addiction in women, the problem tends to be tied to relationships or love, rather than pure sex.
Most women being treated for the problem tend to have had a history of childhood sexual abuse, he said.
But Dr Wang said the stigma of being treated for a mental problem puts sufferers off coming forward to seek treatment.
On average, addicts of sex or other vices struggle for four to eight years before seeking help.
Ignorance may be another reason the problem is under-treated.
Psychiatrists notice they get new patients each time the subject surfaces in the media. Some patients seek out doctors on their own, and others are brought in by loved ones.
Dr Winslow said he is now working with Dr Robert Weiss, the clinical director of the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, to gather ideas on how the treatment of addictions in Singapore can be strengthened.
Next month, he will start support groups for his patients' spouses or significant others, a group which traditional treatment programmes tend to neglect.
Levels of severity
LEVEL ONE
• Masturbation
• Watching pornography (with or without masturbation)
• Phone sex and/or cybersex
• Voyeurism - online or live
LEVEL TWO
• Chronic infidelity
• Sexual relationships with multiple partners
• Anonymous sex or one-night stands
• Paid sex
• Public sex (in bathrooms, parks, and so on)
• Frotteurism (rubbing one's genitalia against a person, usually a stranger)
• Stalking
LEVEL THREE
• Rape
• Child molestation/Paedophilia
• Viewing rape, snuff pornography
• Sexual abuse of older or dependent persons
• Incest
