Schiller believes people usually develop sex addiction as a result of trauma – but the widespread availability of porn is changing that.

“People growing up with porn get addicted right away and it becomes their lives,” Schiller explains, saying she’s met men who’ve been watching porn since they were four years old, and masturbate for six hours a day.

Sex addiction recovery can involve meditation, psychotherapy and developing communication skills.

“There’s a glitch in the brain, and the person who is born with fewer dopamine receptors than others are unable to reward themselves from within,” Schiller further explains, when discussing how sex addiction is classified as a disease.

She also says women can suffer from it, but it often manifests as “relationship compulsivity or love addiction” – and that when her clinic had both men and women in attendance, it highlighted for some male patients how their attitude to women affected the woman in question.

But Schiller is very clear about rape and sexual assault, stating unequivocally it does not classify as sex addiction: “Rape is a violent assault. It’s not about sex. It’s about dominance. It’s like beating somebody up. That’s not sex addiction.”

She adds: “Just because they’re famous and caught doesn’t mean they’re not a sex addict, but it doesn’t mean that they are.”

Weinstein has since been sacked from his own company and denies any allegations of non-consensual sex or “acts of retaliation” against those who refused alleged advances. He has said in a statement via his spokesperson that he “has begun counselling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path.”

In another statement he said: “I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologise for it. Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.”

Images: George Coletrain / Rex Features

This is how ‘torturous’ life can be for a sex addict, according to an expert