I feel that a lot of knowledge and resources on hypersexuality are scattered and I figured someone should attempt to clarify some things to maybe help some people out.

Let's start with definitions. As of right now, there doesn't seem to be a consensus in regards to definitions; however, here are a few that may help you out.

1. The definition I have posted around the subreddit is the one I made myself; "the state of one's sexuality characterized by distress from the frequency or strength of one's sexual drive; this can include but is not limited to: your sexuality running down your overall will power or your sexuality occupying a disproportionate amount of your thoughts and desires than is functionally appropriate" This is so that people who experience sexual desire all day and have it be a severe distraction even if not intense aren't excluded as well as not excluding people whose libido activates perhaps once a week but will put themselves in danger in every which way in order to have sex when it does happen.

2. The most recent academic article studying hypersexuality as of this date (Today is March 21, 2022, and this article was released March 19, 2022) characterizes hypersexuality disorder "by an excessively increased frequency and intensity of sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors and is a recidivism risk factor for sexual offenses." (Priscilla Gregório Hertz, Martin Rettenberger, Daniel Turner, Peer Briken & Reinhard Eher (2022) Hypersexual disorder and recidivism risk in individuals convicted of sexual offenses, The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/14789949.2022.2053183).

3. Psychology Today, a source I don't find particularly reliable, seems to treat the two as synonymous with sex addiction and says "Hypersexual disorder is a proposed diagnosis for people who engage in sex or think about sex through fantasies and urges to the point of distress or impairment. These individuals may engage in activities such as porn, masturbation, sex for pay, and multiple partners, among others. They may feel distressed in areas of life including work, school, and relationships." (https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/conditions/hypersexuality-sex-addiction). I agree most with this definition in particular despite not being confident in defining it as a form of addiction. My reasoning is that it is similar to a person who doesn't crave physical contact calling people who do people inflicted with a physical touch addiction.

   As of now, you cannot be formally (Note: **FORMALLY**) diagnosed with hypersexuality.

In regards to treatment options. As of now, there is no "cure" for hypersexuality. What we know to be effective currently is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. There may be potential future medications targeting hypersexuality which may target oxytocin. [Note: these studies were done on men. This very limited one includes women; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28993093/\] {(Flanagan, John, et al. "High Plasma Oxytocin Levels in Men With Hypersexual Disorder." The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (2022)) 2nd validating source: (Kor, A., Djalovski, A., Potenza, M. N., Zagoory-Sharon, O., & Feldman, R. (2022). Alterations in oxytocin and vasopressin in men with problematic pornography use: The role of empathy, Journal of Behavioral Addictions)}. SSRIs may be prescribed to people with hypersexuality, in particular, those with hypersexuality who are diagnosed with a mood disorder such as depression as the side effects of these medications include reduced libido.

As a side note, in case anyone tries to make absurd claims about testosterone and hypersexuality, as it stands now, research suggests little relationship between the two at least for men. (Original Research Men's Sexual Health| Volume 8, ISSUE 2, P243-250, June 01, 2020, Normal Testosterone but Higher Luteinizing Hormone Plasma Levels in Men With Hypersexual Disorder (Andreas Chatzittofis, MD, Ph.D., et al.)I know.

As far as self-diagnosis goes, since it isn't a recognized formal disorder in the DSM-V, as of now, there aren't any standard scales to use for a self-diagnosis. We do have a few proposed scales.

• One of them being the 19 question Hypersexual Behavior Index [HBI-19] http://www.pathwaysinstitute.net/websitepdf/HBI-19.pdf Research on the scale: (Beáta Bőthe, Márton Kovács, István Tóth-Király, Rory C. Reid, Mark D. Griffiths, Gábor Orosz & Zsolt Demetrovics (2019) The Psychometric Properties of the Hypersexual Behavior Inventory Using a Large-Scale Nonclinical Sample, The Journal of Sex Research, 56:2, 180-190, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2018.1494262)
• Another is the Hypersexual Disorder Screening Inventory {Alleged copy of scale: (http://coping.us/images/The\_Hypersexual\_Disorder\_Screening\_Inventory\_HDSI\_.docx) Research on the scale: (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28993093/)}
• Though not targetting hypersexuality, in particular, my loose recollection recalls this scale being used in some studies regarding hypersexuality: the CSBI-13 (https://www.sexualhealth.umn.edu/sites/sexualhealth.umn.edu/files/compulsive_sexual_behavior_inventory_csbi_-13_english.pdf)

The relationship between bipolar disorder and hypersexuality is sufficiently documented. After a while, you'll notice that a lot of people here have ADHD; there have been studies on the relationships between the two. According to this article, there is little evidence to suggest the ADHD population tends to have more hypersexuals. This study does suggest the opposite; that those with hypersexuality do tend to have ADHD. (Lorenzo Soldati, Francesco Bianchi-Demicheli, Pauline Schockaert, John Köhl, Mylène Bolmont, Roland Hasler, Nader Perroud, Association of ADHD and hypersexuality and paraphilias, Psychiatry Research, Volume 295, 2021,113638, ISSN 0165-1781, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113638. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178120332996)) There is also at least one study on people with ASD. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789215/)

Various other conflicting studies in combination with the aforementioned one suggest that people on the spectrum tend towards hypersexuality or hyposexuality compared to the standard population with fewer people being more in between on average.

A few final notes: Hypersexuality does not excuse predatory behavior. Hypersexuality does have a bias of using men in their research. Hypersexuality can appear as a result of trauma or can be a part of or be affected by another disorder. Your hypersexuality and your thoughts don't determine your quality or worth in being loved as a human being. Hypersexuality can be experienced throughout a ride range of ages. It can commonly start at puberty but is not limited to starting there; it very well may begin before or after especially as it comes with a range of causes. We should help each other and not put each other down. The more we educate ourselves and others, the better it will be for the rest of us. Hopefully, this post helps you get started.

Let me know of any comments, concerns, or questions you have regarding this post. If you have any data that you think should be considered and/or added, let me know!