Hypersexual disorder first grabbed media attention after celebrities like Jesse James, David Duchovny and Tiger Woods engaged in numerous affairs and were treated for “sex addiction.”

In the mental health field, sex addiction is known as hypersexual disorder. Although the idea that someone can be addicted to sex has been controversial, a new study supports treatment of hypersexual disorder as a legitimate mental health condition.

The American Psychiatric Association will consider hypersexual disorder a diagnosable mental health condition if scientists can identify criteria that accurately describe the behavior. It also must be shown that individuals who fit the criteria can benefit from diagnosis and treatment. A group of scientists have proposed a set of hypersexual disorder criteria and recently completed a study to test the criteria’s accuracy.…