One of the TV station’s first on the scene for Tiger Woods‘ car accident, WESH-TV in Orlando, reports today:
(Docs: Still not buying it?)
A local psychiatrist weighed in on news that Tiger Woods has been attending a sex addiction clinic, and said that the golf star could have controlled his urges if he wanted. Forensic psychiatrist Jeff Danziger said sex addiction is not a recognized mental disorder.
Danziger said. “In the catalog of mental disorders, there’s nothing in there that says sex addiction. It’s not in there. … It doesn’t rise to the level of a diagnosis.”
Two distinguished British psychiatrists concurred to the BBC in 2008:
Phillip Hodson, fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, says the term “addiction” is not appropriate for this behaviour, which would be better described as obsessive, compulsive or even greedy.
Some very successful men have a habit of thinking they can get away with anything, especially behaviour they view as exciting, he says.
“Sexual addiction is a relatively recent American, jargonized category of personality behaviour.
“It uses a medical model - ‘I’m an addict, I’ve got an illness and need a 12-step programme.’ But I don’t buy into it.”
Glenn Wilson of England’s Institution of Psychiatry:
“The original idea of addiction was that you had a chemical hijacking of the circuits of the brain built to give you pleasure as reward for doing things of a survival value, such as eating or having sex.”
“But to turn round and argue that one is addicted to chocolate or sex, which are activities you would expect to be rewarded in survival terms, strikes me as hijacking the concept of addiction.
“It’s a way that people signal to the world that they think they have a problem and need to break it.”
But they are no different from anyone else, he says, because we all have sexual drives which can get us into trouble without inhibition or control.
This all lends to the theory that Woods attending a “sex addiction clinic” is more publicity ploy than genuine attempt to curb naturally occurring compulsive behavior that affects most of the population.
But while his behavior may not be based on biochemistry, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that therapy he may be receiving could be helpful in getting his sexual appetites under control.
All of us are tempted every day and the most successful among us are usually those who can resist destructive compulsions. From what we now know about Woods’ behavior, it appears he was unable to resist sexual temptation to the point of it ruining his personal and professional life.
Don’t care what box you want to put his behavior in, dude needed help.
10:52 pm on January 21st, 2010
Woods is a f***ing moron if he expects anybody to buy his sham act.
11:15 pm on January 21st, 2010
Who’s the moron(s)?
Tiger…
…or the people already buying it!?!
Even the discussion and “reporting” (AKA, “promotion”) of his “addiction” moves the perception away from the fact that he is at heart, a goof, but who with $ and fame could get AND TOOK what he wanted…when he wanted it.
It is pretty classic. He wouldn’t even approach the ladies on his own for fear of rejection. He had one of his boys do it to isolate him. He had all upside, no downside…until the sh#tstorm came.
I said it at the very beginning of this debacle. The biggest surprise of this all is how he kept it quiet for so damn long.
3:31 am on January 22nd, 2010
Not addicted? If addiction is determined buy the consequences to your life(that’s in the DSM) then how was he not addicted? His behavior will cost him a half-billion dollars. And, money is either the most important thing or second most important thing in his life behind winning.
What is the fuckin difference if you call it addiction or obsession or compulsion? If these ruhtards are trying to say that Tiger could have controlled himself then why didn’t he? Fuck, if some doctors are this stupid….
7:42 am on January 22nd, 2010
The English always deny the existence of addiction because they are a country of drunks - ever been out at 11pm in any town on that archipelago? Alcoholics Anonymous has helped so many people, but the mainstream British dismiss it also as a strange American cult (despite AA’s success even in the UK). I really think Tiger is a sex addict. To me, addiction is doing something you know is wrong and DON’T want to do, but that pleasure that is derived from it overwhelms all other senses. Why would Coke addicts who try to stop fall back again? Is there no such thing then than alcohol addiction either? It ruins people’s lives, they are aware, stop for a year, then fall back into the hole.
8:22 am on January 22nd, 2010
Why does everybody think this is a ploy? Does no one think that this was mandatory to please his wife and save his marriage? Not to mention the doctors quoted sound like quacks.
9:01 am on January 22nd, 2010
Save 500 million…….. Choke your own chicken.
9:20 am on January 22nd, 2010
A man can’t have consensual sex unless a woman says yes.
For Tiger, this is about competition, the thrill of winning, the reward being getting the woman to say yes. Like that’s hard for a rich, popular athlete.
I’d like to see him with my bank account and my looks and see how many times he gets laid.
10:16 am on January 22nd, 2010
It’s not a medical condition, it’s a character flaw. Sex addiction is bullshit.
10:19 am on January 22nd, 2010
It’s only an “addiction” when you need someone or something else to blame but yourself for your actions. Alcohol, drugs, internet porn, sex…It’s the same higher power bullshit that all the 12 step programs worship and it does work for many weak, undisciplined, narcissistic people. But we all know Tiger is not one of these peeps. Just like golf, you drive for show (!) and go to rehab to protect your dough…
10:26 am on January 22nd, 2010
I heard he was taking a high end steroid that puts your sex drive into over-drive. Still don’t think that’s an excuse, but it could help the bio-chemistry argument maybe??
10:50 am on January 22nd, 2010
Is this his way of attempting to elude guilt? Or was he encouraged to prove an addiction to restore his reputation? Tiger is being made fun of on a global scale…not easy to come back from that.
11:05 am on January 22nd, 2010
There is much debate about whether there is a true sex addiction, porn addiction or other things. Addiction is not even in the DSM IV to my knowledge. I think it talks in terms of substance dependence and abuse only. There are many fighting for the inclusion of sex addiction and other similar disorders and others who are fighting against it. I am sure that Tiger could easily find some psychiatrists who recognize sex addiction.
2:19 pm on January 22nd, 2010
As far as I know addiction needs to be divided into physical vs psychological right? One is a physical requirement that if not quelled can result in illness or deterioration of the body (i.e. heroine addiction) VS physchological which is simply another way to say compulsive, obsessive but on a deeper mental level (i.e. Potheads).
That being said I don’t doubt that some sort of treatment might benefit Tiger. Treatment of “sexual addiction” usually is more about the person and his personal relationships (I.E. David Duchoveny and Tea Leoni). I think it’s more about trying to save his marriage than public face.
My opinion: psychological addictions are just simply the excuse of the weak-minded. We all have urges…we are humans with free will. But it is also the trait of humans to sublimate or repress actions not seen as conventional in society. Repression may have bad connotations but the fact is if people didn’t restrain themselves from their primal urges we’d be up sh*t creek as a society.
2:50 pm on January 22nd, 2010
Sex addition. What a laugh. Stop covering for him.
1:03 pm on January 24th, 2010
Enough is enough, some men are like some women
they cannot get enough, no matter how much they get.
8:46 pm on January 24th, 2010
i don’t the see the big deal…anyone who is worth a billion dollars and is the most recognizable athlete in the world is going to get a lot of women…i just say he should have never got married in the first place
1:00 pm on January 28th, 2010
Once a cheater always a cheater. Its is not deeper that n that. The man , is not a real man ,but a horny little boy. Only real grown up men get married and are faithful. The rest are not mature to handle marrige and they should never marry.
11:19 am on February 16th, 2010
Americans love to blame their unacceptable behavior on something, especially when they have money, status, or an expensive address. Instead of taking responsibility for their actions, which they know are wrong, they ascribe their actions to some element they say is beyond their control. If they were poor or in certain socioeconomic classes, these individuals would be laughed out of town and made to own up. It is no accident that so many men in sports behave so badly. The combination of arrogance, excessive compensation, immaturity, and lack of respect for other people results in exactly what we witness over and over again. Due to their athletic prowess and contribution to what is valued in American society; their lack of social mores and personal ethics will eventually take a back seat as we get back to business as usual.