By Dalal Akoury MD addiction alcoholism and addiction AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center Newsroom Women Health February 2, 2016

The Challenges of Female Sex Addiction and Drug Abuse

There is not much known about Female Sex Addiction and Drug Abuse. Very few numbers are available, and there are few places that treat women who present with both conditions. It is estimated that between 6% and 10% of Americans of both genders suffer from sex addiction and that between 10% and 20% of those are women. The DSM-5 does not at this point recognize that sex addiction is an addiction. However, there are several studies which confirm that the brains of sex addicts react in the same way as do the brains of drug addicts. This means that drug addicts and sex addicts suffer from much the same dysfunction in their brains. So women usually with female sex addiction are usually treated as though they have both female sex addiction and drug abuse.

There has been work done on a diagnosis which has resulted in a screening test to distinguish between the normally sexually active person and the sex addict. The main point of the screening is that if a woman’s sexual activity has ever caused pain to yourself, put you in danger, or resulted in financial or social consequences, then you probably have female sex addiction. A counselor will have further tests which can distinguish between the different types of sexual addiction and can then prescribe appropriate treatment.

This treatment can be complicated if the woman has both female sex addiction and drug abuse. The drug of choice is also important, but the primary problem is that both the addictions need to be treated at the same time. Otherwise the female sex addiction and drug abuse will reinforce each other. This means that the woman involved will have difficulty overcoming both the female sex addiction and drug abuse together, but will have even worse problems if the two problems are treated separately.

Approximately 80% of the time, the reason the two dependencies occur together is that the woman has at some point in her life experienced some form of abuse. The good part of having abuse in your past is that you survived it. The bad part is that abuse leaves a woman feeling unlovable, which is a recipe for severe depression. The abuse was often traumatic enough that she also has PTSD. These two conditions can cause enough pain that the woman will seek to self-medicate, and may also try to make herself feel lovable and loved through a series of sexual relationships. This means that this woman who through no fault of her own was abused by others now has more problems than just the depression or the PTSD. Since she has been self-medicating, she is now dependent on a drug like alcohol or some type of pill, and she is also a sex addict.

This woman, and many like her, need special treatment in the center. They need to be encouraged to look at themselves, not as objects to be used but as people with the right to have friendships and sexual relationships. They need to be encouraged to give up the drugs they have been using and to seek out and maintain healthy relationships. This is a very difficult task that these women have, and many who are initially successful in giving up the drugs will be tempted to use their female sex addiction to cover up or lessen the amount of pain they feel. This will be especially true in the beginning of their therapy, when they are still coping with the depression and the PTSD.

If they are treated for the depression and the PTSD and not for the female sex addiction and drug abuse the feelings about the female sex addiction and drug abuse may undermine any progress they make overcoming their depression and PTSD. It is therefore imperative that they are in the safest place they can find before doing any of this work and they need to be treated for all their problems at the same time.

The best places for a woman with female sex addiction and drug abuse to go to are those places that use a combination of approaches to treat those who want it. This woman needs a multi-pronged approach to deal with the drug abuse, the low feelings of self-esteem, the loneliness and the high anxiety levels at the same time. Unfortunately, most therapists did not have the training necessary to recognize female sex addiction and drug abuse—let alone do anything productive about it.

This is about to change. The research that is being conducted at psychiatric hospitals and clinics has identified that female sex addiction and drug abuse is a verifiable condition that is causing pain to many people and they are now working on the best medications to treat female sex addiction and drug abuse. That means that where these women had no hope, now they will be able to get the help they need to live normally.