But while the world of entertainment has in recent years popularized the idea of “sex addiction” through films and TV shows, researchers who study human sexuality and addiction say it is far from an established psychiatric diagnosis. “There’s an idea that when people are too turned on, they cannot control their own behaviors,” David J. Ley, a clinical psychologist and the author of “The Myth of Sex Addiction,” told The Washington Post. “But the research shows that these ‘sex addicts’ don’t demonstrate observable difficulties in self-control.”As HuffPost has reported, the American Psychiatric Association in 2012 removed sex addiction from the DSM-5, the nearly 1,000-page guidebook used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders. While Long was seeking treatment for sex addiction, all other patients were suffering from addiction to drugs or alcohol. But he also cast doubt on Long’s claims for a different reason: The patients he treats in Los Angeles show there is no connection between
