Woods New "Poster Boy" of Sex Addiction?

(CBS)  Numerous reports claim Tiger Woods is being treated for sex addiction at Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Could the treatment work for the golf great?

Photos: In Treatment: Celebs & Sex Addiction
Photos: Tiger Woods

According to self-described recovering sex addict Cory Schortzman, it could.

Cory and his wife, Kerry Schortzman, appeared on "The Early Show" to share their ongoing struggle with Corey's sex addiction.

Corey explained his sex addiction was fantasies, "self-sex" and emotional affairs with several women he worked with. He said he had no physical intimacy with other women.

"Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez remarked that Corey's addiction doesn't sound like a "traditional" sex addiction.

The man who treated Cory, psychologist and sex addiction specialist Dr. Doug Weiss, the executive director of Heart to Heart Counseling Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., told Rodriguez sex addictions can take many forms.

"Well, Maggie, you might be thinking of the guy in the bookstore as the sex addict, but actually most guys are on the Internet, have jobs, and most of it involves pornography and self behavior," he said. "Some of them will go out and have affairs or prostitutes or sex with strangers, anonymous encounters, but most are really married guys at home, hours on the Internet, while their wife is right next door and they could be with them."

Kerry Schortzman has stayed beside her husband through five-and-a-half years of treatment. She said a marriage can survive sex addiction.

"There's hope, there definitely is, and I think, as a woman, you just need to have mercy and grace to allow your spouse to just go through that process of healing, and it does take time," she said.

But could sex cravings actually be considered a compulsion - an addiction?

Weiss said Woods -- like many people before him -- do suffer from a legitimate addiction.

Weiss called Woods a "poster boy" for sex addition. Weiss said the golf star has now joined the ranks of other reportedly sex-addicted stars, such as David Duchovny, Halle Berry's ex-husband, Eric Benet, and Michael Douglas.

"They have everything, and yet they choose this out-of-control behavior, and they've tried to stop on their own. They've often have histories of abuse and abandonment. And their own pain they haven't dealt with and it shows up in these behaviors," Weiss said. "It's definitely an addiction because it's kind of like -- it's insane behavior. It makes no sense. You have a beautiful wife - and every man in America does -- and you choose to look at the images or get into relationships that are not good for you, they're not good for your family. It makes no sense. It is an addiction."

If indeed in the treatment facility in Mississippi, Weiss said Woods will experience several types of treatment, including group therapy, personal counseling, homework, exercises, and psychiatric evaluation.

[madone52]

Figures, that when a very real issue is at stake. The crazy freaks who are addictedd to sex and porn and denying it have to speak out saying there is no such thing. Sex addiction is real, you can be addicted to anything, including stupidity. Sex outside of an intimate relationship is just the pursuite of pleasure. A pursuite that will never end. It just leaves you feeling guilty, tired, and alone. No body in the video said sex is bad. They said that sex is good. It's when you use it to numb your pain, or wast time at work, or any other reason that it is bad. If you guys who deny it had ever had "Real Sex" with a person who loves you unconditionally. You would find that Intimate "strings attached" sex with a living soul is the most beautiful thing. Any other kind is just cheap. I'm sad that you are missing out on it. I'm sure if your married your wife would love that kind of sex with you. It's called intimacy. It should be treasured and that's what Tiger wants.

[thesevenveils]

The best treatment for sex addiction is more sex. So much sex in fact the addict gets bored with it. And why does monogamy and marriage have to be mutually inclusive?

[amerilatino]

I_am_me-You are right in one respect, Marriage at an early age, for the socially and financially independent is a fool's game, people need to play the field to learn about each other and themselves before they are ready to commit long term (or not). 50's adolescent puppy love notions of love at first sight and contrived charms will only take you so far in a relationship. Sex addiction??? Bah, there's no such thing without an unwilling victim.

[I_am_me1953]

There ain't nothing wrong with Tiger that some nookie won't cure. The best way to get over her is to get over another her.



Sex addiction, what a fooey, farse and idiotic money grabbing psychiatriac SCHEME! Make the manb "think" he os wrong and bilk him for $M while you treat him and turn him into some sort of latent homosexual.


Tiger I am so proud of you. Most men can't keep 2 women at one time and you had 10 at one time. Use it now because when you hit 70 it don't work as good as it did when you were 30.

[Berkeley-SkirtLifter]

Sounds to me like Tiger's the victim. Poor Tiger has a disease. Ahhhhhh. goofy rationalization.

[Brokennews]

When a heroin addict gets addiction treatment the goal is to never do heroin again. Not to scale it back.


When an alcoholic gets treatment, the goal is to never drink again. Not to scale it back.


So when a sex addict gets addiction treatment, what's the goal?

[mapjo11]

It's to not have sex outside the marriage...cheesh.

[I_am_me1953]

RE: by mapjo11 January 21, 2010 3:10 PM EST



By your response it isn't sex that is the problem.

Marriage is the problem.

[alexma50085]

Sex addiction is a joke. Looking at pornography and engaging in "self-sex" doesn't make you an addict to sex. The human race has had pornography for thousands of years and how many single (and some married) people wouldn't end up blowing their brains out, if they couldn't release a little tension with "self-sex". These "sex addiction" doctors are quakes that couldn't hack it in a regular practice, so they'll exploit normal human tendencies to make a dime.

[thesevenveils]

What's a woman to do when she is married to a fringed man?

[olyboy]

I hate it when slimeeballs get caught and then somehow believe they can blame their lack of moral fiber on a "desease." Sex addiction is a creation to make bad people feel better and quack therapists more money.