성중독과 성치료..,

Treatment for Sexual Addiction

(Summary)

             Sexual addiction is a disorder that exists as well as causes suffering from a lack of diagnostic clarity for unmarried male Christians. Wheaton College Counseling Center (WCCC) reports that male students at evangelical Christian colleges think they are sexual addicts because they have masturbated and used pornography. In a group meeting for these students, it was mentioned that masturbation was a developmentally normative behavior for this age group. This suggestion made the group members obviously uneasy, and some students verbalized it was impossible for them to consider that masturbation is healthy under any circumstances.

Both the conceptual ambiguity related to sexual addiction and the evangelical emphasis on sexual purity misleads a number of unmarried Christians. They believe that all sexual behaviors of a driven and unwanted nature are sexual addictions that should involve treatment. It is a problematic issue because those behaviors are not any clinical pathology. It is because the misconceptions cause needless guilt and distress among young men who are willing to be faithful to the requirements of biblical sexual morality.

Several studies indicate that masturbation is common: 95% of adult males have masturbated to orgasm before marriage; 85% of college students, at least once; 71%, frequently; 64%, once a week. Otherwise, three to six percent of the general population has sexual addiction. This means that masturbation is not symptomatic of a sexual addiction and does not lead to the development of a sexual addiction.

There are sexual addiction screening instruments in this field such as the Sexual Addiction Screening Test, the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Inventory, the Sexual Compulsivity Scale, and the Hyper-sexual Impulsivity Behavior Inventory. However, these inventories cannot be applied in a number of ways for Christian college men (unmarried evangelical Christians) who struggle with sexual compulsions. The scales are for partnered sexual activities, not for solo sexual behaviors. Terminology is ambiguous for Christians. An interview in combination with a scale is recommended for young and unmarried evangelicals to get richer clinical insights.

Individual therapy combined with group therapy is fit for sexual addicts. Group therapy is effective in confronting the defenses, in helping them to develop useful coping strategies, and etc. Despite of the effectiveness of these therapies, treatment for the Christian college men who are sexual addicts differs from that for the sexual addicted older married men. Effective treatment should be referred to the following characteristics of Christian college men: normal nature of sexual behavior or a stage of addiction, developmental stage, and Christian beliefs and values.

First, it is necessary to assess unmarried Christian men who think they are sexual addicts whether it is a normal nature of sexual behavior or a stage of sexual addiction. At WCCC, nearly all these male clients are not sexually active but engage entirely in the solo behaviors. For these clients the interventions should be modified for the limited dimensions of sexual behavior and recognized that these men deal with addiction although they do not engage in actual intercourse.

Next, the developmental stage is to counsel the unmarried Christian college men. It is essential for counselors to view treatment within a life cycle perspective. Last, the evangelical faith of these clients is a significant protective factor. At WCCC, the men who think they are sexual addicts desire to live lives of sexual integrity according to the Bible. Faith is considered as a protective factor too because Christians proscribe pre-marital sex and other forms of sexual immorality.  

References

Kwee, A., Dominguez, A., & Ferrell, D. (2007, Spring). Sexual Addiction and Christian  

         College Men: Conceptual, Assessment, and Treatment Challenges. Journal of

         Psychology & Christianity, 26(1), 3-13. Retrieved March 1, 2008 from Academic

         Search Complete database.