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).
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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.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
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A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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