Title: What does 'treatment' for Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey entail?
Headings: Weinstein, Spacey scandals prompt questions about treatment for sex addiction, criminal behavior
Weinstein, Spacey scandals prompt questions about treatment for sex addiction, criminal behavior
Content: Not all sex addicts are offenders and most sex offenders are not addicts. Unlike an addict, a sexual offender may be manipulative, lacking any sense of empathy, motivation to change behavior or even a basic conscience. " (Sex addicts) rarely engage in sex without consent or with coercion; they're using sex as a self-soothing mechanism in the way other people use drugs or binge eat," says Debra Borys , a Los Angeles psychologist and expert on sexual harassment. " A sexual predator gets aroused from the domination and the power and seeing the fear or humiliation; they're not considered a sex addict." Examples of sexually addicted behavior could include compulsive masturbation, repeated anonymous one-night stands or compulsive consumption of pornography. "Sexual addiction is not an excuse for criminal behavior," says Douglas Weiss , president of the American Association for Sex Addiction Therapy, a recovering sex addict himself and the founder of the treatment facility, Heart to Heart Counseling Center, in Colorado Springs. " Sexual criminals are still responsible for their crimes." The treatment for sexual offenders, including court-ordered psychiatric hospital stays, differs from treatment of non-criminal sexual addiction because they have a "different level of pathology," Weiss says. "