Animal research has established that compulsive sexual behavior arises from the same transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms that mediate drug addiction in laboratory animals however, as of 2018, sexual addiction is not a clinical diagnosis in either the DSM or ICD medical classifications of diseases and medical disorders. There is considerable debate among psychiatrists, psychologists, sexologists, and other specialists whether compulsive sexual behavior constitutes an addiction, and therefore its classification and possible diagnosis. The concept of sexual addiction is contentious. Related or synonymous models of pathological sexual behavior include hypersexuality (nymphomania and satyriasis), erotomania, Don Juanism, and paraphilia-related disorders. The term sexual dependence is also used to refer to people who report being unable to control their sexual urges, behaviors, or thoughts. Proponents of a diagnostic model for sexual addiction consider it to be one of several sex-related disorders within hypersexual disorder.
She tells him she can't help but be worried - this is her one chance to reconnect with Alyssa, and she doesn't want to screw it up. Just relax, he tells her, she just needs to breathe and not stress out so much. Bianca clearly loves the chase and is playing hard to get, telling him playfully to stop, he's so bad, she isn't even at her own house! Marlene, is fussing when her boyfriend, Tom, comes up behind her and puts his hands comfortingly on her shoulders.
Teen Bianca is giggling wildly and gasping at the outrageous things her boyfriend is saying on the other end of the line, which seem like provocative sexual advances. She looks on with a bit of envy, clearly wishing she could take the place of the girl he's talking to.
Laura sits in silence but it becomes clear that she's not just watching the party, but staring at one guy in particular - Vince - as he laughs and jokes along with a pretty girl across the room. But like all of them, it's not heroin or booze that's his addiction and affliction -he's a sex addict. They eye each other warily before shifting their gaze to Robert, a charming, handsome and sympathetic-looking man. Marlene, Laura, and Bianca all sit in a circle.