Symptoms include sex becoming the “central focus” of the person’s life at the neglect of health, personal care or interests and responsibilities. (Photo: AFP)

In a landmark announcement, sex addiction has been classified as a mental illness for the first time.

The landmark move by the World Health Organisation could lead to treatment for compulsive sexual behaviour.

Its inclusion on WHO’s International Classification of Diseases list comes a few weeks after gaming addiction was added.

According to Dr Valerie Booth, from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, two and four per cent of the UK population suffer from sex addiction.

She added that it is a behaviour that tends to be hidden as it’s shameful and often sex addicts don’t come forward.

“Adding this to the WHO list is an excellent step for patients as it allows them to recognise that they are suffering with a problem — it takes it out of the shadows and they are able to seek help for it,” she went on to add in a conversation with The Sun.

WHO’s list describes compulsive sexual behaviour disorder as a “persistent pattern of failure to control intense, repetitive sexual impulses or urges resulting in a repetitive sexual behaviour”.

Symptoms include sex becoming the “central focus” of the person’s life at the neglect of health, personal care or interests and responsibilities. The behaviour should be clear for six months or more and cause distress in personal lives.