A Word on this Special Edition . . .

Although the American Psychiatric Association (APA) ultimately decided not to include Hypersexual Disorder in the upcoming DSM-5, we chose to dedicate a special edition to this model because of the important contributions those who have been involved in the research related to Hypersexual Disorder have made to the field. The evolution of Hypersexual Disorder represents a long journey that clearly intersects with the research, scholarship, and practice of our organization. Salzman (1972) began discussing hypersexuality with the medical community and suggested it may be related to affect regulation or tension reduction strategies. Orford (1978) advanced ideas that theories of dependence should consider other forms of excessive appetite beyond substance abuse and wrote about hypersexuality. Many others also made early contributions to helping bring attention to the construct of hypersexuality such as research on group therapy conducted by Quadland (1985) among gay and bisexual men. Coleman (1986, 1987, 1991, 1992) was publishing work in an effort to educate the scientific community about “sexual compulsivity.” Kafka was beginning to publish research on what he labeled “non-paraphilic hypersexual” behaviors to further illuminate our understanding about this issue (Kafka, 1991, 1997; Kafka & Prentky, 1992, 1994). Schwartz & Brasted (1985) along with others began to advance ideas about possible treatment etiology and treatment strategies. Some investigators began looking at how hypersexual behavior might impact the family system (Schneider, 1989; Schneider, Corley, & Irons, 1998). And of course, Patrick Carnes’ seminal work Out of the Shadows disseminated valuable information about sex addiction to public audiences around the world (Carnes, 1983) and he was instrumental in starting this journal as a platform for research on this topic along with other efforts to educate clinical providers (Carnes, 1986, 1996; Carnes, Nonemaker, & Skilling, 1991). Indeed, we have come a long way. And, although there remains no unified model for what we and our clients call sex addiction, I think in reviewing the research presented in this journal one can only conclude that the similarities between the constructs and different research continues to outweigh the differences.