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Sex Addiction 101: A Basic Guide to Healing from Sex, Porn, and Love Addiction PDF

240 Pages·2015·1.55 MB·english
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Health Communications, Inc. Deerfield Beach, Florida www.hcibooks.com The descriptions and stories in Sex Addiction 101 purposely do not identify specific individuals or their stories. As confidentiality lies at the very center of the psychotherapeutic relationship, we have taken the most exacting measures to preserve the privacy of all real persons. All names are fictitious and all other recognizable features have been changed. Furthermore, the people and circumstances portrayed in these pages are composite in nature; each case represents a great many individuals whose characteristics and experiences have been adapted conceptually, carefully altered in their specifics, and combined to form illustrative viewpoints, characters, and stories. Any resemblance of such composites to actual persons is entirely coincidental. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available through the Library of Congress © 2015 Robert Weiss ISBN-13: 978-07573-1843-6 (Paperback) ISBN-10: 07573-1843-6 (Paperback) ISBN-13: 978-07573-1844-3 (ePub) ISBN-10: 07573-1844-4 (ePub) All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. HCI, its logos, and marks are trademarks of Health Communications, Inc. Publisher: Health Communications, Inc. 3201 S.W. 15th Street Deerfield Beach, FL 33442–8190 Cover and Interior design by Lawna Patterson Oldfield ePub created by Dawn Von Strolley Grove Contents Acknowledgments Author’s Note Foreword by David Sack, MD 1 Defining Sexual Addiction 2 Am I Addicted to Sex? 3 Sex Addiction—the Basics: Triggers, Escalation, and Denial 4 Why Me? Understanding the Causes of Sexual Addiction 5 Cybersex and Porn Addiction 6 Sex Addiction in Women 7 Love/Relationship Addiction 8 Sexual Orientation and Sex Addiction 9 When Sex Pairs with Other Addictions 10 How to Get Better 11 Finding Therapeutic Help and Healing 12 Loving a Sex Addict 13 Rebuilding Intimate Relationships 14 Long-Term Healing 15 Final Thoughts 16 Recovery Resources, Support, and Education 17 Bonus Chapter for Therapists: The Unofficial Diagnosis of Sexual Addiction About the Author Additional material, worksheets, and writing exercises may be found by visiting www.hcibooks.com. Acknowledgments This book is dedicated to those individuals (below) who pioneered and persevered in the early research and treatment of addictive sexual and intimacy disorders. If not for each one of you, this book would never have been written, nor would I still be alive to write it. Sex Addiction 101 is a summation of your commitment to sound ideas and solid research. Thus, this book belongs to all of you, as well as to the reader. You are the pioneering researchers; writers and therapists who risked your professional reputations and careers to help all of us make sense of this shameful, hidden, emotional disorder (compulsive, addictive, non- offending sexual behavior). Even when surrounded by professional arrogance, dismissal, and derision, you fearlessly beat back the bushes of cultural prejudice and fear, offering hope to people who surely had none. You constantly discussed the issues that no one wanted to discuss and you never stopped talking about them, even when it was uncomfortable or out of fashion. By standing firm in your truth, each of you have helped even the most shamed addict hold out hope that their life might have genuine worth and value—regardless of their prior history. And I am one of those people. Thus, I am personally and professionally forever in all of your debt. As are the tens of thousands of recovering people whose lives are now forever changed for the better because you stood up for them when no one else would. This book is dedicated to: Thank you. Each of you has contributed to making our world a better place. Author’s Note This is not a book about morality, cultural beliefs, cultural norms, or religion. It is not written as a challenge to those who enjoy recreational sexuality or “nontraditional” sexuality, either casually or as a lifestyle. As a mental health and addiction professional, it is not my job to judge such behaviors in any way. Instead, I have written this book to help people whose sexual fantasies and activities have run amok to the point where they’ve become a driving life force—overriding their personal goals, beliefs, and lifestyle. In other words, this book is written for those whose abusive and/or addictive involvement with objectified, often non- intimate sexuality, consistently and persistently distracts them from larger personal goals like academic achievement, career development, intimate relationships, recreation, emotional health, and community. Within these pages, I offer understanding, compassion, direction, and hope to those who are too ashamed, fearful, or embarrassed to reach out in other ways. Although there are many views about whether things like pornography, virtual sex, casual/anonymous sex, and nontraditional sex are right or wrong, good or bad, moral or immoral, it is not the intent of this book to define or address these issues in any meaningful way. I support every adult in his or her right to engage in any solo or mutually consensual (and legal) sexual activity or experience that provides pleasure, satisfaction, and fulfillment. I do not believe that anyone, therapist or not, has the right to judge what turns someone on or how a person pursues sexual activity—as long as that person’s choices do not violate the intrinsic rights and safety of self or others. In short, my work is not focused on what is ethically or politically correct for any individual or the culture at large. With pornography, for instance, I do not promote censorship, nor do I believe that all porn is automatically problematic or exploitative, though some (child porn, for instance) certainly can be. My primary goal is to assist people who struggle with compulsive and addictive sexual behaviors by helping them to identify their problem as the chronic emotional disorder it is, and to then understand that the problem can be put into remission with proper care and direction—just like alcoholism, compulsive gambling, eating disorders, and/or drug addiction. In a nutshell, I want those who are suffering from sexual addiction to know that their sexual concerns can be addressed without shame or moral/cultural/religious bias. I also seek to offer direction and insight to therapists who may be unfamiliar with the treatment of sexually addicted clients. But most of all, I want to offer sex addicts hope, letting them know that long-term change and healing are possible to anyone willing to invest in the hard work of personal growth and integrity. —Robert Weiss, LCSW, CSAT-S Foreword Mention “sex addiction” and most people’s response is, “Sounds fun. Where do I sign up?” In reality, however, sexual addiction is as devastatingly un-fun as a full-blown addiction to alcohol, crystal meth, heroin, and/or any other intensely pleasurable and/or dissociative high. All of these behaviors (sex included) typically start out as a good time, and many people who engage in them feel great . . . for a while. But among those individuals who struggle with underlying emotional or psychological issues such as profound childhood or adult trauma, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem the tide will eventually turn, and instead of wanting alcohol, drugs, sex, gaming, and/or to binge eat they end up needing alcohol, drugs, sex, gaming and/or binge eating—just to feel okay. Before they even realize it, they’re “feeding the beast,” drinking, using, or acting out, not to get high with friends, party, and have a great time, but to escape the pain of living life on life’s terms. People often ask me, “How can someone be addicted to sex?” They may as well be asking, “How can a person be addicted to any behavior? Don’t you have to put a substance into your body to experience the euphoric rush that drives addiction?” My answer to these and similar questions is usually something along the lines of: “In the world of addiction treatment there are two major areas of concern—addiction to substances, and addiction to patterns of behavior. Typically, substance addictions involve abuse of and dependency upon chemicals such as alcohol, nicotine, prescription drugs, and illegal drugs like heroin, meth, or cocaine, whereas behavioral addictions, also known as “process addictions,” are problematic, repetitive behavior patterns involving potentially

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