“You strip away the denial, the rationalization and you come to the truth,’’ Tiger Woods told an interviewer, several days after he announced he would return for the Masters golf tournament April 8-11.

In a previous statement, owning up to serial infidelity, he made amends to all those he had harmed. He also admitted an inability to manage his own life and a willingness to seek the help of a higher power, in his case through the Buddhist faith of his mother.

It was, The Times pointed out, the classic language of the 12-step program, pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous and adopted by other groups dedicated to battling addictions to everything from food to shopping to psychics.

But sometimes, as in the case of sex, what constitutes an addiction is open to debate.

As Donald G. McNeil Jr. wrote in The Times, “the very idea that someone can be addicted to sex is controversial and inevitably leads to chuckles and jokes. Those claiming addiction may be accused of seeking a medical excuse for simple promiscuity.”

Mr. McNeil also noted that the manual for the American Psychiatric Association does not yet recognize sexual addiction .

But Robert Weiss, the director of sexual integrity services for the CRC Health Group, applauded David Duchovny, an actor, for speaking publicly about his treatment for sex addiction in 2008. “It’s exciting to see someone for the first time come out and say ‘I am a sex addict and I am going into treatment,’ ‘’ he told The Times.

Internet addiction is subject to similar doubts. As The Times reported, “skeptics argue that even obsessive Internet use does not exact the same toll on the health of family life as conventionally recognized addictions.’’

But Dr. Rick Zehr, the vice president of addiction and behavioral sciences at Proctor Hospital in Peoria, Illinois, told The Times that “the line is drawn with Internet addiction when I’m no longer controlling my Internet use. It’s controlling me.’’ Other experts look for signs that the Web is contributing to depression and job or marital difficulties.

In the meantime there is a 12-step program for video game addicts and a support group to help online “psychic addicts.’’ The founder of that group, Sarah Lassez, an actress, said that she had been spending over $1,000 a month at psychic Web sites.

“I never considered myself to have an addictive personality,’’ she told The Times. “I never even had a problem with cigarettes or caffeine. But it literally felt like a high.’’

Experts agree that given the allpervasive nature of cyberspace, it is hard to break destructive Web behavior. One Times article even likened it to treating “an alcoholic in a brewery.” But then the 12-step concept has proved successful against long odds before.

Nevertheless, in an age of reality shows like “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew,’’ anyone might be forgiven for suffering from 12-step overload. But the alternative is not attractive .

In Cambodia and China addicts are locked in drug detention centers where they face beatings and forced labor with no treatment for their addictions.

Fu Lixin, who claimed she smoked a cigarette laced with methamphetamine just once, was incarcerated in China for years. “It was a hell I’m still trying to recover from,’’ she told The Times.


KEVIN DELANEY


LENS


The language of 12-step programs is widespread. A family group in Westchester, New York, with an Alcoholics Anonymous book. / CHRIS MAYNARD FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES