Sex Addiction Counseling
The most rapidly growing form of addiction is sex addiction. Pornography has proven to be an accelerant escalating every form of struggle with sexual compulsivity. The result is devastation both individually and relationally. For the addict, they decline into a life that is out of control and governed by compulsion and shame. Partners who discover the double life being led are traumatized. Whether it presents itself as compulsively watching pornography, recurring affairs, engaging in illegal sexual encounters or even riskier behaviors, the damage is done relationally in the form of lies and infidelity. Sex addiction expert Robert Weiss defines infidelity as the breaking of trust that occurs when a person keeps intimate, meaningful secrets from their primary romantic partner.
Escaping this addiction isn’t easy. Ask any addict and they’ll tell you that willpower alone won’t cut it. In fact, Step 1 of any 12 step program involves accepting that you are powerless and that your life has become unmanageable. It is in accepting the struggle that you can begin the journey to recovery. I’m a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT) specifically trained to guide those struggling with this addiction in the steps to find sobriety, as well as helping their partners grieve the betrayal of trust they’ve experienced and find healing. With both partners working towards their own unique recovery, I also help couples work towards the repair and restoration of their relationship. I draw upon multiple experts in this field such as Patrick Carnes, Stephanie Carnes, Robert Weiss, Doug Weiss and Marnie Ferree.