Sex Addiction: An Overview For Spouses And Friends Of The Addict

Most people who struggle with sex addiction appear outwardly as normal in vocation and lifestyle as anyone else. For instance, many sex addicts are doctors, lawyers, writers, pastors, priests, teachers, and successful business people. They occupy trustworthy vocational roles all over the world. Sex addicts can also be very committed husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends. They often also have very high levels of spirituality and concern for others. So, why do many sex addicts cause so much damage in their sexual and relational acting out? That is a really good question that can only be answered as each addict processes and works through their own life story and discovers what helps them to be safe and caring towards themselves and others throughout their life.

Sex Addiction: an overview for spouses and friends of the addict

Addicts often get conflicting advice from therapists, friends, and sponsors about this, especially when the acting out involved sexual contact with other people. An addict who had engaged in a variety of behaviors reported,

Therapy/counseling was included by more respondents than any other tool as among the five most important factors that helped their recovery. Addiction-related recovery items (12-step meetings, spirituality, "the Program," 12-step sponsors, and recovery friends) were also frequently mentioned. Friendships were mentioned by more partners than addicts. This may be a reflection of the gender differences between most addicts in the survey (89% male) and the partners (94.7% female): women are traditionally more interested than men in relationships (Gilligan, 19xx). Fewer than one third of both addicts (30.6%) and partners (27.6%) included the item "relationship with partner" as among the five most important factors which assisted their recovery.

Because the respondents to this survey were sex addicts and partners of sex addicts, it was not surprising to find that all the addicts considered 12-step programs to be crucial elements of their therapeutic process. Not surprisingly, the great majority of the partners were also participating in some 12-step meetings. Not all accepted the label of "co-addict," and many were not attending 12-step programs specifically for family and friends of sex addicts (S-Anon, COSA), but 73.2% of the partners had attended or were still attending some 12-step program such as Al-Anon, Codependents Anonymous (CODA), Overeaters Anonymous etc., and considered the tools of the program to be of major importance in their healing (See Table 9).

Sexual addiction has been called sexual dependency and sexual compulsivity. By any name, it is a compulsive behavior that completely dominates the addict's life. Sexual addicts make sex a priority more important than family, friends, and work. Sex becomes the organizing principle of addict's lives. They are willing to sacrifice what they cherish most in order to preserve and continue their unhealthy behavior.

There are a number of steps you can take to get your smartphone and internet use under control. While you can initiate many of these measures yourself, an addiction is hard to beat on your own, especially when temptation is always within easy reach. It can be all too easy to slip back into old patterns of usage. Look for outside support, whether it's from family, friends, or a professional therapist.

Sexual addiction has been called sexual dependency and sexual compulsivity. By any name, it is a compulsive behavior that completely dominates the addict's life. Sexual addicts make sex a priority more important than family, friends, and work. Sex becomes the organizing principle of addict's lives. They are willing to sacrifice what they cherish most in order to preserve and continue their unhealthy behavior. Source: www.SexHelp.com

Some argue that some female sex addicts may be seeking love and affection and use sex as a means of achieving that feeling. Whatever the type of behavior, there are rehabilitation treatment programs for sexual addiction if the sufferer seeks help, but many women feel embarrassed by their behavior and may hide it from their spouses and friends for years.

The natural consequences of sex addiction reach far beyond the addict, and touches everyone that loves them. The deception and betrayal felt by spouses, family and friends reaches far, and are difficult to stomach.

Our program offers a path of recovery from sex addiction. Like all addictions, sex addiction interferes with the life process, and can even be life-threatening. SRA offers a way to stop compulsive sexual behavior through practicing the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. The list of statements in the section Do I Belong in SRA? will help you decide if you are addicted. This Website is also for the family members and friends of the sex addict who want to better understand sex addiction and where help can be obtained.

Troy specializes in three distinct areas: sexual addiction, anger, and adolescent issues. In these specialties, he works with adult males, adolescent males and couples. He takes a holistic approach to helping his clients by working closely with the parents, spouse, family members and friends to help his clients create a better foundation for success. In addition to these specialties, he also provides counseling for all issues relating to men and adolescent boys. This allows Troy the ability to stay connected with all current issues with this population along with strengthening his skills in working with multiple symptoms.

People with sex addiction use sex as a way to ease anxiety, depression, loneliness, pain, stress, and other emotional burdens they may carry into their golden years. Often, with sex addiction, as with other addictions, people act on impulse and engage in intimate activities that could cost them their health, job, families, friends, peace of mind, and eventually their lives.

Seek the help of support groups: There are many support groups for spouses and partners of sex addicts. Having a group of friends who have shared the same experiences as you will make you feel less lonely and more understood and heard.

When used responsibly, the Internet can be a great place to interact socially, meet new people, and even start romantic relationships. However, online relationships can often be more intense than those in real life. Our fantasies are given free reign and the idea of being with your online love can exceed all realistic expectations. Because few real-life relationships can compete with these wild, fantasy relationships, the Internet addict will prefer to spend more and more time with their online friends.

Sexual addiction is any sexually-related, compulsive behavior which interferes with normal living and causes severe stress on family, friends, loved ones, and one's work environment. Sexual addiction has been called sexual dependency and sexual compulsivity. By any name, it is a compulsive behavior that completely dominates the addict's life. Sexual addicts make sex a priority more important than family, friends, and work. Sex becomes the organizing principle of addict's lives. They are willing to sacrifice what they cherish most in order to preserve and continue their unhealthy behavior. If sexual addiction has impacted your life, here are resources to help you heal from its effects.

Identifying a sex addiction is often a challenge, particularly in those with whom you do not have a sexual relationship, like parents or close friends, but there are still often clear indicators of a problem. Keep an eye out for these 10 signs of sex addiction behavior.