David Duchovny, who played Fox Mulder on "the X-Files" TV series and two films, has voluntarily entered a rehab to receive treatment for sex addiction, according to a statement released Thursday by his lawyer Stanton Stein, The Associated Press reported.

Duchovny's publicist, Flo Grace confirmed the first report appearing on the website of people.com. But she did not give out any further comment.

Duchovny also plays a sex-obsessed character on Showtime's "Californication". The second reason will begin on September 28, the AP reported.

The 48-year old Emmy award winning actor was married to actress Tea Leoni in 1997 and the couple has two children.

We compiled some information on sex addiction for those who might be interested in knowing more about the behavior.   We do not imply that David Duchovny has been engaged in any activity described in the following.

Sex addiction: What you need to know

What is sex addiction?

Sex addiction, also sexual addiction, could simply mean that a person, male or female, for whatever reason repeatedly and compulsively tries to engage in highly impersonal intimate behaviors such as masturbation, empty affairs, frequent visits to prostitute, voyeurism and other activities, according to wikipedia.com.   The definition varies.   But compulsive and compulsivity are the keywords associated with sex addiction.

Is sex addiction a disorder?

It all depends on the definition. According to wikipedia, there is no consensus in the medical circle that sex addiction actually exists and no diagnosis guidelines can be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Patrick Carnes, Ph.D., a well known researcher in sex addiction and the Executive Director of the Gentle Path program at Pine Grove Behavioral Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi suggests that criteria for diagnosis include recurrent failure to control impulses to engage in extreme acts of lewd sex among other things.

Again it all depends on the definition to determine whether a sexual act is normal or abnormal.

What are the symptoms for sex addiction?

A disorder or not, sex addiction have some common indicators including compulsivity, continuation despite consequences and obsession.

Compulsivity means loss of ability to control one's sexual behaviors.

Continuation despite consequences means that often sex addicts ignore the consequences of their sexual behaviors.  

Obsession means that sex addicts are preoccupied with thinking sexual thoughts.

Is sex addiction common?

It does not seem there is any official data on the prevalence of sexual addiction.

What are the consequences of sex addiction?

Sex addiction can affect one's every aspect of life including social activity, emotional exprience, physical wellbeing, legal implications, and finance and career.

Sex addiction can damage relationship with loved ones such as friends and family members.   It can cause emotional stress and increase risk of genital injury or sexually transmitted disease. It could cause legal problems such as sexual harassment, obscene phone calls, exhibitionism, prostitution, rape, incest, child molestation and other illegal activity.

What are the causes for sex addiction?

Causes could possibly include trauma, impaired neurochemistry, developmental impairments, and interaction of loneliness, anger, boredom and spiritual rebellion, according to Wikipedia.

How can sex addiction be treated?

Self-help therapy and group therapy are available to help sex addicts to develop a healthy sexuality.   Treatments include education about healthy sexuality, counseling and marital therapy.   Support groups and 12 step recovery program are also available to people with sexual addiction. Medications including Prozac and Anafranil may also be used to suppress the compulsivity of the sex addiction.