Sex and love addiction is not an official psychiatric diagnosis. Instead, it is a colloquial (slang or informal) term used to describe a compulsive preoccupation with romantic relationships that negatively impacts a person’s daily life, relationships, work, or mental health. The term is generating conversation and controversy in part because of a new memoir by author Elizabeth Gilbert. She describes herself as a sex and love addict, recounting her all-consuming affair with her best friend in graphic, painful, and often unflattering detail. Her candidness about the experience is shining a light on a condition that is both widely talked about and hotly debated: sex and love addiction.