Last night Channel 4 television screened a programme on sex addiction as part of ‘The Dark Side of Modern Love’ season. It has to be one of the worst programmes covering a sex issue that I’ve seen in a while. It presented some very worrying ideas about sex, and more importantly promoted ‘treatments’ and ‘therapies’ that aren’t evidence based, nor advocated by those in the therapeutic or health communities.
The programme described the case of Russell and Clare, a couple in their 30s who’d been married for several years but rarely had sex. Due to a worsening in their relationship and Clare finding some evidence of Russell’s infidelity they consulted with Dr Doug Weiss, a self-proclaimed recovering sex addict and therapist.
From the outset the therapy seemed somewhat suspect. The couple were to be ‘treated’ in an intensive three-day session. Immediately they arrived the ‘treatment’ began by making Russell have a lie detector test. Before the test was even applied Russell became distraught and admitted his behaviour was ‘worse’ than admitted to Clare. He’d been unfaithful with a number of women, used sex phone lines and pornography. However he still underwent the lie detector test, where it was revealed sometimes he masturbated once a day or more – shortly after this he was told he was never to masturbate again.
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Gallery Carre
