Hmmm...Duchovny lands a role as a recovering sex addict...while claiming he is a sex addict.  Research or marketing hype?

Maybe it's my own personal distaste at bad habits being labeled an "addiction", but I call bullshit.  During the 90s I worked with an office load of 12-steppers.  Food, sex, drugs, booze...and of course, the prevailing attitude was "there are two types of people in the world...those in recovery and those who need to be in recovery."  I was once almost dragged into a mini "intervention" to discuss my drug use.  Did I used drugs?  Absolutely not.  However, I did like to light incense from time to time and one of my coworkers lived upstairs.  Incense=stoner dontcherknow.  Christ...did I need a stiff drink that night!

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

I think that we are all aware of the fact that it is normal for people to have a strong desire for sex.  Sex serves an obvious evolutionary role, and it is quite understandable that it is a powerful motivating force in human life.  That being the case, it is misleading to say that someone is a sex addict.  There is nothing abnormal about having a strong desire for sexual pleasure, so having such desires does not make you an addict, it is part of being an adult.  However, there are certainly people whose pursuit of sex becomes a problem because of bad judgment and excessive risks that they take.  The problem is not specifically with the desire for sex, so much as with the particular strategies used to obtain it.  If you spend all your income on prostitutes, that is a problem because you need money for other things, and your life will go badly.  You should find sources of sex that are within your budget.  And if you are married and are cheating on your spouse, that can also be a serious problem (assuming that yours is a conventional marriage and not an open marriage, and your spouse expects and requires your fidelity).  You would have to make a choice, to either save the marriage by living up to the agreement for sexual exclusivity, or end the marriage so that you are free to pursue your other sexual interests.  But again, that kind of problem is not an indication of sexual addiction, merely of bad planning.  

Worse sexual problems also exist.  Some people commit criminal acts such as rape, child molestation, public indecency etc.  Are they sex addicts?  Again, I find that the problem is not precisely one of sex, so much as irresponsibility and mental illness.  Even people who commit such crimes could, if they were more responsible and more sane, find healthier means of satisfying their sexual desires.  And they might need to obtain the advice of Dan Savage.  But it can be done.

I just wanted to thank you for the title of this story.  Every time I pull up the TnT front page now, I get that damned song stuck in my head for about a half an hour.  Thanks.