Sexual Addiction and straight men who have sex with men

Here is an excellent write up about straight men who have sex with men as it relates to sexual addiction. The article is in the New York Daily News Health Section by Dr. David Moore and Bill Manville. They refer to why men like Sen. Larry Craig might sexually act out with other men in public bathrooms.

Their column, What causes sex addiction - and what you can do, quotes Dr. Don Strassberg, a professor at the University of Utah, saying:

Sexual activity centers on the release of the brain chemical, Dopamine - which
is as powerful as cocaine or meth. Think of Dopamine as colors on an artist's
palette, and your brain's deepest emotional center as the canvas on which you
paint your sexual memories. This primitive, emotional region of the brain - the
limbic system - is so basic that we share it with most mammals.
Sexual
arousal is a basic instinctual motivation. Whether through fantasy
that
brings us pleasure or the sexual acts themselves, Dopamine prints deep rewards
in our psyche.

Then Dr. Dave and Bill talk about sexual addiction in a way that is very important talking about the physiology of why people engage in high risk sexual activity.

Dr. Dave: Sexual activity centers on the release of the brain chemical,
Dopamine - which is as powerful as cocaine or meth. Think of Dopamine as colors
on an artist's palette, and your brain's deepest emotional center as the canvas
on which you paint your sexual memories. This primitive, emotional region of the
brain - the limbic system - is so basic that we share it with most
mammals.

Bill: Which explains why you often see dogs so horny they mount
someone's leg or even someone's shoe?

Dr. Dave: Exactly. Sexual arousal is a
basic instinctual motivation. Whether through fantasy that brings us pleasure or
the sexual acts themselves, Dopamine prints deep rewards in our psyche.

Bill: And so when people or things - like the adoring hug of an intern, or seeing
pants around a male ankle in the next bathroom stall - re-arouse the memory.

Dr. Dave: That creates the hunger to act out the behavior that will release Dopamine and even more Dopamine.

Bill: Where does love come in - or at least,
affection?

Dr. Dave: The non-primitive part of our brain connects the drive
for sex with human needs for sharing, for emotional affection and support, and a
sense of family. When someone is hungry for that, but feeling deprived of it for
the moment.

Bill: But memory gets their Dopamine flowing on
hard-drive.

Dr. Dave: Compulsion enters, and they don't care about the
consequences of their actions.