People should not be excused from morally bankrupt behaviour just because they claim to be ‘sex addicts’, an NHS psychiatrist has said.
Dr Max Pemberton believes adulterous celebrities and wealthy businessmen cynically claim to be sex addicts in order to portray themselves as victims.
Dr Pemberton says the condition is “entirely made-up” and they must take responsibility for their actions.
Ludicrous
Researchers in Sweden claim that an excess of oxytocin in the brain can leave a person unable to control themselves, but Dr Pemberton disagrees.
Writing for the Daily Mail, the psychiatrist said its effect on human libidos is complicated, but “certainly can’t be blamed for someone’s philandering ways”.
“sex addiction is an entirely made-up condition” Dr Max Pemberton
He believes “sex addiction is an entirely made-up condition”, adding: “I have several friends who work privately as psychiatrists and who, providing the patient can afford it, will diagnose an individual as a sex addict and offer treatment.
“But away from their consulting rooms, these psychiatrists will admit they find it ludicrous that sex addiction is considered a genuine illness.”
‘It’s a choice’
He said that people should not affirm ‘sex addiction’, as “medicalising philandering behaviour ultimately absolves the lecherous and unfaithful from any responsibility for their behaviour”.
He added that such behaviour is not a disease: “It’s a choice, a weakness — and one which should be addressed with therapy or counselling.
“It may sound harsh, but it is also liberating. For if sex is something that people are choosing to do to excess, then they can also choose not to do it.
“Saying ‘it wasn’t me, it was my hormone’, might be the easier answer, but it’s also the wrong one.”