Q&A: How do you identify a sex addiction?

Q: This is really embarrassing, but I’m obsessed with hooking up. I’m out on the town night after night. I’m miserable if I have to go home alone, and miserable when I don’t. How do I stop? — Evelyn Q., Syracuse, N.Y.

A: It sounds as though you may be struggling with what’s popularly called sex addiction. (Charlie Sheen, Russell Brand and Kanye West say they’ve battled it.) And although the behavior is not yet recognized as a diagnosable condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, what researchers are calling “hypersexual disorder” may soon be.