Affairs

• The majority of sex addicts begin  experiencing problems before the age of 16, says addiction  expert
• 40% of those questioned had watched porn  under the age of 12
• Broken homes, single-sex schools and poor  sex education also to blame

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2246455/Sex-addiction-Online-pornography-poor-sex-education-blame-says-leading-expert.html

Easy access to online pornography and poor  sex education are largely to blame for teenagers suffering from sex addiction, a  leading expert has said.

Sex addiction therapist Paula Hall said almost half of those who suffer  with the problem first experienced problems  before they turned 16.

Her claims come after a survey she conducted  in conjunction with the counselling organisation Relate found  40 per cent of teenagers had used  pornography before the age of 12 and 90 per cent felt it was to blame for their  addiction.

Easy access: The increase in online porn has been blamed  for a rise in sex addiction among teenagers (posed by model)

The research also suggests that factors  such  as parental separation, single sex schooling and limited sex  education are all  contributing factors.

And nearly half of those  surveyed had  experienced some kind of childhood abuse or assault,  indicating this to be a  major cause of the condition

Hall’s survey of people with sex addiction,  conducted for her new book Understanding and Treating Sex Addiction, looked at  the age most people started, what factors led them there, whether they sought  help and the consequences of their addictions.

She defines sex addiction in its simplest  terms as: ‘a pattern of out-of-control sexual behaviour that causes problems in  someone’s life’.

Russell Brand claimed sex addiction almost ruined his  career

The survey also highlights the contrasts  between male and female attitudes about sex addiction.

Substantially more men seek help than women,  with 57.3 per cent of men seeking  professional help, and only 38.3 per cent of women.

In women, ‘affirmation and feeling wanted’  was their biggest ‘reward’ for their sexual behaviour, with 80 per cent of them  citing this as the reason.

For men, ‘excitement’ was identified as being  the biggest reward

But the results also indicate the damaging  consequences of sex addictions.

Sixty-five per cent of those questioned  struggled with low self-esteem and almost half experienced mental health  problems.

Nearly half had lost a partner because of  their behaviour and a quarter said it had effected their sexual functioning.

Furthermore, 63 per cent said their sex  addiction had wasted time and 42 per cent that they’d wasted money.

When asked what the biggest influence  was on  their sex addiction, ‘easy access’ and ‘lack of education’ were  both cited as  more significant than ‘negative’ childhood experiences.

Watching pornography was also identified as  being the most common result of addiction.

As Hall states: ‘The reality of the Western  world today is that ‘opportunity’ is everywhere and people, with or without a  background of trauma and/or attachment difficulties, can now indulge their  sexual desires and run the risk of becoming addicted’.

The results of the survey have been published  in her new book, Understanding and Treating Sex Addiction.

Earlier this year, Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the country’s  top prosecutor said that teenage  relationships are becoming more abusive because of the easy access to internet  pornography, expressing his concern about the ‘exposure of young people to all  sorts of material’.

He admitted there could be a link between the  easy access to internet pornography for children and ’emerging research’ about  increasing violence in teenage relationships.

SIGNS OF SEX  ADDICTION