Sexual Addiction Recovery
Can You Trust Your Partner After Sex Addiction?
Sex addiction is a controversial concept in the world of mental health and addiction. Some experts consider it a real disorder, while others dismiss it. The official word comes down from the guidelines in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which does not include sex addiction as a diagnosable condition. If, however, your relationship and your life have been ruined by the hypersexual behavior of your partner, it can be hard to dismiss the concept too easily. What else can explain how your otherwise loving partner could sleep around with so many people?
Holiday Survival Tips for Sex Addicts
Whatever holidays you celebrate, the season running from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day can be emotionally and psychologically difficult, especially for people addicted to sex, who typically don’t deal so well with extra commitments and stressors. The fact that we’re bombarded in the media with idyllic Normal Rockwell-type imagery increases the burden. Even non-addicted people can struggle with this extra pressure to be perfect and joyful and loving and attentive and all the other stuff we think we’re supposed to be. And when we inevitably fall short of these idealized holiday expectations, we’re likely to experience guilt, shame, remorse, anxiety, depression and the like — all of which are emotions that people addicted to sex work very hard to escape and not experience via their addiction.
Advice for Dealing With a Spouse’s Sex Addiction – Part 1
Upon their happy wedding day, no one expects to one day discover a spouse’s hidden addiction. While an alcohol addiction is difficult to hide, sex addiction can persist for years in secret. Porn and sex addiction are especially painful because, unlike alcoholism or drug addiction, there is inherent betrayal. The emotional and perhaps physical infidelity that accompany sex addiction shatter any sense of mutual trust, constituting betrayal and inviting destruction on the marital covenant.
The spouse of a sex addict is left without a roadmap. The marriage and their years of interaction are called into question. The doubts and fears and uncertainties flood the mind. How long has this been going on? What did I do wrong? Is our marriage salvageable? Will it always be like this? Sex addiction is not only dangerous for the addict, but for the spouse as well. Many, after learning of or dealing with a spouse’s sex addiction, begin to display symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Both partners will need help in dealing with and, hopefully, recovering from the addiction and its effects.
The Sexual Recovery Institute Celebrates Recovery Month with a Series of Professional Workshops on Porn, Relationship and Sexual Addiction
This month, Robert Weiss, LCSW, CSAT-S, hosts a series of professional workshops about the diagnosis and treatment of sexual addiction/compulsivity in various locations across the country.
Addicts’ best advice – solving conflicts
1. Work for win-win solutions. Shame-based couples tend to look at all issues in terms of right and wrong, and to see all conflicts as ending with a winner and a loser. Search for solutions that make each partner a winner. Seldom is there just one way to do things. Find the alternatives.
Women can be sex addicts too
A fine line exists between what may be considered by most people acceptable sexual behavior and what is sexually addictive or compulsive. This is especially true for women in a society such as ours where sex is often treated as a commodity. Our culture discourages women from being assertive and direct in the expression of their sexual needs, thereby encouraging a less direct and potentially seductive or manipulative style. Some women go beyond these culturally-sanctioned behaviors and use sex compulsively as a means of gaining power and love.
SAVE THE DATE: The California Society for Clinical Social Work Conference – January 29th
Mark your calendars for The California Society for Clinical Social WorkConference on Saturday, January 29, 2011! The conference will feature presentations by experts on the topic of “Sex, Shopping, Gambling & Gaming: Addictions in the 21st Century” and will take place at the Sheraton Gateway LAX (6101 W. Century Blvd.).
A recent survey proves a great need for sexual addiction treatment
In a recent member survey, the American Academy of Healthcare Providers in the Addictive Disorders quoted the following among their members who responded:
Beginning a celibacy period
A celibacy period is necessary for a sex addict’s path to recovery. Below is advice to help keep you on track.
1. View it as a time-out, not an end. A celibacy period will provide you space to refocus on other needs. It is not a sentence, not the end of your sexuality. On the contrary, celibacy will make you fully aware of your sexual self.
Tormented about whether to conceal or reveal a secret?
Most healthy adults enjoy sex. And some people enjoy sex simply as a form of recreation or distraction. Both single and married adults may occasionally or frequently view porn, have sexual dalliances, affairs or even see prostitutes without it being a problem for them. Right or wrong it’s not anyone’s job to call these people ’sex addicts’ or to judge their sexuality or relationships. That is their business. However, for approximately 3-8% of the adult population having recreational sex – this is not a good thing.
