August 29, 2008

XXX-Files! Agent Mulder can't get enough

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Actor David Duchovny, best known for his role as Fox Mulder on the FOX TV series The X-Files and its related movies, checked himself into a rehab facility for sex addiction, according to news reports and a statement released by his lawyer yesterday.

Duchovny, 48, is married to actress Tea Leoni; they have two children. He is currently starring in the Showtime series Californication. In it, he plays a curmudgeonly writer named Hank Moody with self-destructive tendencies—among them a lecherous lifestyle.

In 2000, ScientificAmerican.com's own Ivan Oransky wrote a story about sex addiction—which is still not officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association—for Rx.magazine. In the piece, John Sealy, a Torrance, Calf.-based psychiatrist calls the condition that has been said to plague 8 percent of men and 3 percent of women as "a pathological relationship with a mood-altering experience with associated denial of escalating adverse consequences and/or loss of control." (Well, that clears it up.)

So-called sex addicts often also suffer from depression and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder and may be hooked on alcohol, crystal meth or cocaine. According to the article, the best treatment for sex addiction is a 12-step program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous combined with individual psychotherapy sessions.

The news may finally provide an answer to singer/songwriter Bree Sharp's 1999 cult-hit "David Duchovny," in which she asked the actor, "David Duchovny, why won't you love me?" (See poor-quality YouTube video below.)

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