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Aviel Goodman has written a book that combines clinical acumen and scholarship. He has the ability to describe the patient and the treatment situation and shows wide knowledge of the research of others who have studied the same and related topics in different disciplines, He has a scientific approach, which he communicates to the readers. He does not take for granted that the topic of his book deserves to be considered a clinical entity but begins with a
full discussion of the terminology, which includes both sides of the question.
After a balanced judgment that sexual addiction is a distinct condition with its own diagnostic criteria, causative factors, clinical history, and characterology, he places it in a group of related disorders, which include narcissistic personality and borderline disorder, addictive disorders (other than sexual, including substance abuse and gambling), perversions, and the compulsive-obsessional and impulse disorders. The readers' interest in sexual addiction must be postponed until they have mastered a review of the related disorders. Some might say that we have been given more than is necessary. For example, the section on perversions provides a detailed account of the theories of many psychoanalysts who have analyzed, studied, and written about perversions and homosexuality. However, this literature is vast, and many competent psychoanalysts have found similar and related psychodynamic factors in homosexuality and perversions. Anyone who is ignorant of this large body of psychoanalytically derived knowledge should read this section carefully.
I do not want to mislead people into thinking that Goodman confines himself to a psychoanalytic approach to sexual addiction or any of the related disorders. He carefully considers and offers bibliographical sources for biological, chemical, endocrine, neurophysiological, behavioral, learning, moral, and sociological aspects. Only after a balanced review does he conclude that psychodynamic factors