There are many more Tigers in the woods

What could be worse for Tiger Woods than a string of 'transgressions' behind closed doors, announcing themselves one tabloid headline at a time? The case of disappearing ads featuring him, or products endorsed by him being taken off the shelves?

Neither. For, there is a third option.

Enter the health expert: David Smallwood, addictions manager at London's Priory clinic, who pronounces the ace golfer a 'sex addict'.

There may not be enough proof to underscore the expert's pronouncement, but the recent string of revelations may have had Smallwood thinking aloud, for the developments do have the makings of a clinical diagnosis, however premature.

While Woods's extramarital sexual escapades have made headlines thanks to his celebrity, closer home there are many who are secretly battling their innate, powerful sexual desires. The kind that experts like Smallwood would call sex addiction.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association defines a sexaholic as a person who cannot resist impulses to engage in extreme acts of lewd sex, and spends an inordinate amount of time in obtaining sex, being sexual, or recovering from sexual experiences.

Varun B, in his late 40s, is a case in point. He has no qualms in confessing that he was a sex addict. When he was 11, he used to fondle his classmates and cousins' breasts. "I had sex with 72 girls in my first year of college," he claims.

When his wife was admitted to hospital with a critical illness, Varun had sex with his sister-in-law 20 times in the span of a week.

Rajan Bhonsle, head of the department of sexual medicine at the King Edward Memorial Hospital and Seth GS Medical College, says sexual addiction is common. "Anything becomes an addiction when it is beyond your control and becomes a pre-occupation, affecting your career, family, marriage, and money," he says. "In a month, I handle at least 7 to 10 cases of people who are sex addicts." Bhonsle says 80% approach him on their own, while 20% are brought to his clinic by parents, the spouse, or a relative.

The reasons that trigger sex addiction in an individual could range from low self-esteem to loneliness to depression to being brought up in a dysfunctional family. Another reason could be that the person has an "addictive personality to an extent that things are often beyond his control".

Experts observe that people who turn into sex addicts have a history of non-acceptance from family and peers. For them sex is an outlet to achieve instant gratification. "They are also pessimists and less likely to have a stable relationship because of their dissatisfaction with a single partner," says Seema Hingorrany, clinical psychologist.

Hingorrany also points out that at times, spouses leave their sexaholic partners for fear of contracting sexually transmitted disease.

Many women battle similar uncontrolled urges, though differently. While men are more open about their sexual yearnings, most women continue to repress their needs.

But 42-year-old businesswoman Archana Gupta, who has recently come out of her addiction with the help of therapy, is matter of fact about it. "For women, it is easier to find boyfriends than it is to find hashish," she says.

Having had a tough childhood followed by a broken marriage, Gupta says she was constantly yearning for love, nurturing, and, more importantly, validation. "For me, sex was a release and an escape from this bad phase of my life. Now, in retrospect, I think I was not a culprit but a victim."

Addiction to masturbation, sexual fantasies involving the opposite sex, and accessing sexually explicit literature and images for good long hours are a few tell-tale signs of a sex addict.

Varun, who has come out clean from his past, says that for him meditation and yoga did the trick. "I meditate twice a day and after that I experience a sense of calmness and self-control," he says. "I no longer sleep with guilt."

Says Hingorrany, "Sex addicts who are already suffering from depression apart from counselling also need medicines. They are often required to undergo cognitive behaviour therapy."

Bhonsle on the other hand suggests that it is important for a sex addict to not be quarantined but to socialise, even with the opposite sex, in order to overcome his/her addiction.

(Some names have been changed to protect identity)