Sex addiction is an illness that can be treated with drugs therapy and counseling, a New Taipei City-based psychologist said on Tuesday, after Taiwanese-American musician Wang Leehom’s (王力宏) alleged infidelities sparked a week-long public debate.
Wang’s estranged wife, Lee Jing-lei (李靚蕾), has accused him of having extramarital affairs and sex with prostitutes, saying that he is addicted to sex, after Wang on Wednesday wrote on Facebook that the couple is getting divorced.
While Taiwanese and other Asian societies rarely discuss or acknowledge sex addiction, the condition is frequently invoked by Western celebrities and politicians embroiled in scandals, said Yang Tsung-tsair (楊聰財), who runs a mental health clinic in Sindian District (新店).
Photo: Screen grab from YouTube
Signs of sex addiction include being prone to infidelity, habitually seeking the services of prostitutes and feeling controlled by sexual urges, he said.
People with the condition might compulsively seek new sexual partners on a monthly basis, or experience restlessness that affects their ability to work or have a normal life, Yang said.
Although sex addiction affects men and women, the disorder is more prevalent in men, and the onset of symptoms typically occurs between ages 20 and 50, he said.
Sex addiction is often accompanied by narcissistic or histrionic personality disorders, which are linked to an unhappy or love-deprived childhood, especially a lack of rapport with their mother, Yang said.
As adults, those people might seek sexual relationships as a means to alleviate loneliness, he said.
The region of the hypothalamus known as the “pleasure center” is activated by enjoyable activities such as exercising, accomplishing goals, eating or having sex, he said.
Sex addicts predominantly rely on the latter for pleasure, he added.
People with the disorder can control their urges with the help of drugs that restore hormonal and emotional imbalances, and cognitive-behavioral therapy that corrects their approach to sex, relationships and emotional management patterns, he said.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS