A recent preprint reviewing four decades of research highlights an important reality about childhood sexual trauma: there is no single way survivors respond sexually later in life. Some survivors may develop compulsive or risky sexual behaviors. Others may experience sexual avoidance or dysfunction. And while those outcomes look very different, researchers suggest they may sometimes emerge from similar underlying effects of trauma. The evidence connecting childhood sexual abu

Most people use digital technology every day. Many young people use social media, play video games, and encounter an online environment that provides almost constant opportunities for engagement. So when does frequent use become problematic? A recent review by Jennifer Park and Marc Potenza looks at gambling and gaming disorders alongside problematic pornography use, social media use, and the emerging issue of problematic engagement with artificial intelligence chatbots. Rath

Why Substance Use Treatment Programs Need to Screen for Sexual Addiction Too Addiction rarely shows up alone. Clinicians who work in substance use treatment have long observed that clients struggling with drugs or alcohol often carry other compulsive patterns alongside their primary diagnosis, including compulsive sexual behavior. Yet many treatment programs are not structured to catch this overlap. A study published in Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity examines exactly this

What Personality Testing Reveals About Sadomasochism in Sexual Addiction Treatment Sadomasochistic behaviors, often referred to as S&M, exist on a wide spectrum, from mild role play involving humiliation or loss of power to high-risk practices such as sexual asphyxiation. Clinicians who work with sexual addiction have long recognized that these behaviors show up in treatment populations, yet the underlying personality and psychological patterns associated with them have remai

Exhibitionism and Voyeurism: Why Treating Them as One Condition May Be a Mistake For nearly two centuries, exhibitionism and voyeurism have been studied side by side, sometimes treated as separate conditions and sometimes as two expressions of a single underlying disorder. A study published in Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity takes a closer, more data-driven look at this long-standing question, and the findings suggest that lumping these behaviors together may obscure import

How Early Attachment Shapes the Path Into Sexual Addiction Long before sexual addiction takes hold, something else is often already in place: the way a person learned to connect, or fail to connect, with others early in life. A study published in Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity examines this connection directly, exploring how patterns of attachment relate to sexual addiction and to the specific form it takes in a person's life. The study, titled Attachment Dysfunction and R

Sex Addiction as a Disease: Examining the Evidence For most of the twentieth century, addiction of any kind was widely misunderstood. People struggling with substance dependence were often viewed through a lens of moral failing rather than illness, treated with judgment and fear rather than care. It took decades of scientific advancement to shift that understanding toward what is now widely accepted: addiction is a disease rooted in the brain's systems of reward, motivation,

Founder of AFAR Awarded Fulbright for Sexual Addiction Research A landmark moment has arrived for the field of addiction science. Dr. Patrick Carnes, a pioneer in the study and treatment of sexual addiction, has received the prestigious Fulbright Canada Palix Foundation award in Brain Science. Through this award, he will conduct groundbreaking research into the genetics of sexual addiction and serve as Distinguished Visiting Chair at the University of Alberta. The honor place