Web blamed for sex craze

2004-10-03 20:33

Münster - German psychologists say a sharp increase in the number of people whose sex drives have gone out of control is mainly the result of pornography and sex chat on the internet.

Steffen Fliegel, chairing a conference of the German Society for Research on Sexuality DGfS, said it was difficult to obtain overall figures for people who had a pathological obsession with sex, as sufferers were highly embarrassed and often do not seek help.

But clinical psychologists at the meeting in the northern German city of Münster had discovered by comparing notes that there had been a sharp growth in the number of self-help groups in which sufferers offer one another advice, he said on Saturday.

Both German psychologists in private practice and clinics treating psychosomatic illness had been specialising to cope with demand.

Fliegel said about 75% of people who can no longer control their sexual instincts, are men.

Conference participants said the huge array of freely available sex sites on the internet and "talk-dirty" chatrooms was a major factor.

"Web surfers can use them anonymously and without being observed," said Fliegel.

"Sex obsession is behaviour that is learned. It's not inborn," he said.

Therapy to "unlearn" the behaviour took at least a year, and could only succeed if the sufferer had recognised that his obsession was no longer healthy.- Sapa-dpa

- SAPA