The mental health effects of an addiction to paid sex

Sex addiction is now seriously acknowledged as a mental health issue, and numerous therapy groups have developed to help sufferers cope with their affliction. Growing public acceptance helps them to admit their condition and grow to deal with it more successfully. However, the area of sex addiction that does not have such an open forum for treatment is that of paid sex. In today’s culture, the opportunities to indulge in commercial sexual acts are rife, and this can have devastating effects on mental, physical, moral and financial wellbeing.

Everybody who uses paid sexual services started somewhere. This entry point may be a lack of free time to meet the opposite sex, a baser sexual urge, or even just loneliness. In any case, we have to accept that addiction to paid sex has an unhealthy motivation from the very beginning. Social and emotional wellness relies on a correct work-life balance, community and moral health, so when these things are lacking there is already a problem. This problem flourishes into something much bigger and more insidious when paid sex becomes a regular habit.

Whether an addict indulges in phone sex, web pornography or prostitution, the results can be financially devastating. For addicts, the more they experience, the more their demands grow for more regular or extreme versions of their experience of choice. For many, this has led to financial ruin. After all, the industry exploits the user as well as the product, and is more than happy to create lifelong customers!

While an addict indulges in a paid sex addiction, he is unable to fix the other elements of his life. When your attention is compulsively set to one topic, it becomes very hard to create a general balance. In the case of a lonely paid sex user, he will devote his time to his addiction, instead of seeking to expand his social boundaries and find relationships that will boost his wellbeing and allow him to build a real life. As such, paid sex addicts can become increasingly withdrawn from society.

The problems caused to emotional wellbeing are bad enough, but it should be remembered that physical damage is also a serious risk. When an addict participates in the prostitution industry, he leaves himself open to any number of sexually transmitted diseases, some of which can be fatal. Given the severe disadvantages of this habit, it is hard to find any reason to maintain it. If you feel that you are developing an affliction of this kind, it is advisable to seek support as soon as possible. Sex Addicts Anonymous is open to you too, and does not judge anybody for their habits. All that matters is the intention to heal yourself.