Understanding Sex Addiction

Sex addiction is a compulsion that involves engaging in obsessive sexual thoughts and behaviors to the point that current relationships, employment or other normal life activities are harmed. Individuals with a sex addiction may benefit from cognitive-based therapy as well as medications designed for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize sex addiction in its manual, however it released a description of hypersexual disorder in 2010. Symptoms of the disorder include an individual’s desire to commit sexual acts even when there is a risk for physical or emotional harm to self or others.

Ways Sex Addiction Leads to Financial Trouble

A sex addict may seek multiple sexual encounters in a given month, week or even day. An encounter may take a variety of forms—the following common sexual services are often paid for by credit cards:

• Online pornography, including chat rooms with live sexual acts
• Prostitutes and escort services
• Strip clubs
• Telephone sex lines
• Pornographic movies available in hotel rooms

Sex addicts already experience relationship problems due to their addiction; when financial debt is added an entire family may be in danger of losing a home or other resources. The Internet offers many people an easy way to spend money on sex, and it can aggravate an already serious sexual addiction. The Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH) estimates there are 2 million sexually addicted Internet users. Online sexual activities trigger addictive behaviors because they offer the following:

• Isolation
• Fantasy
• Objectification
• Anonymity
• Sexual images

The anonymity and lack of social consequences for their behavior can make the Internet a convenient and easy way for sex addicts to fuel their compulsion.

Debts Due to Sex Addiction

The growing number of available sex services may be contributing to overall debt rates. Debts due to paying for sex are growing in the United Kingdom, according to a Jan. 22, 2008 article in the England-based newspaper The Guardian. The UK Insolvency Helpline, a group that helps individuals manage debt, reported one in four people said some of their debt was due to spending money on sex, and that the number had grown in recent years.

Need Help Finding Sex Addiction Treatment?

If you are looking for a program that offers sex addiction treatment, please call our toll-free number. We help individuals overcome addictions with emotional and physical support. Our counselors are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Don’t hesitate; call us today.

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• Compulsive, frequent masturbation
• Frequent use of pornography
• Extramarital affairs
• Prostitution
• Sexual encounters with strangers
• An inability to control sexual thoughts or fixations

If left untreated, this compulsive need for sexual arousal and satisfaction can result in physical injury, disease, damage to relationships, criminal prosecution and death. Certain lifestyles and careers may place an individual at an increased risk of developing a sex addiction.

Risk Factors for Sex Addiction

Sex addiction is most common among men. Certain other risk factors can increase the likelihood that someone may develop this disorder, including the following:

• Exposure to sexually explicit material at a young age
• Sexual activity at a young age
• Early access to pornography
• Social acceptance of sexually explicit materials or conversation
• Anxiety disorders or other psychological conditions
• Loneliness
• Depression
• Self-esteem deficiencies
• Childhood abandonment or neglect

Initially, sexual activity can lead to feelings of relaxation, contentment and calm. This is due to the release of certain brain chemicals that result in a comforting effect. Over time, however, a tolerance may build and the individual needs increasing quantities of sex or increasingly intense sexual experiences in order to achieve the desired effect.

Jobs and Careers Associated with Sex Addiction

Although people from all careers can be affected by this disorder, certain types of jobs are more commonly associated with sex addiction, including the following:

• Computer-based jobs – Internet pornography has become a problem for millions of people over the last two decades. Daily access to internet pornography can affect many computer-based jobs including programmers, designers, web developers, online salespeople, researchers and investors.
• Traveling jobs – People such as truckers, touring artists and traveling salespeople are often removed from close friendships and relationships and may experience intense loneliness on the road. Hotel room pornography, prostitutes and strip clubs are commonly associated with those who spend their careers away from home.
• Leadership jobs – People such as politicians, celebrities and ministry leaders are often removed from normal relational contact. These leaders may experience loneliness while in the midst of a crowd. The combination of their insecurities, sense of entitlement, lack of accountability and access to willing sexual partners can put this group of people at constant risk for developing sex addiction.

Treatment for Sex Addiction

If you have realized that your need for sexual satisfaction has become constant and unrelenting, you may have developed a sex addiction. Although there may be no physical withdrawal when a sex addict ends his destructive behavior, the withdrawal symptoms can be psychological or emotional and may include the following:

• Persistent anxiety
• Emotional outbursts or abuse
• Obsession
• Depression

Treatment for sex addiction is often similar to alcohol or drug treatment. It may include a combination of personal and group counseling along with education and skill development that can help the addict to reprogram his brain to function normally. In time, sex addiction patients can regain control of their sexual behavior.

Finding Help for Sex Addiction

If you or someone you love may be struggling with sex addiction, please call our toll-free helpline now. Our counselors are available 24 hours a day to answer your questions about sex addiction and jobs that are commonly linked to the disorder. Please call now.

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• A compulsion to perform certain behaviors
• Performing behaviors even if they negatively impact you or a loved one
• Inability to discontinue certain behaviors

Characteristics of Codependent Individuals

The characteristics of a codependent individual may include the following:

• Low self-esteem
• Need for approval and affirmation
• Struggles with identifying and communicating emotions
• Abusive family environments
• Never feeling in control
• Lacking experiences that enable a person to behave in a normal fashion
• Unsure how to act in a variety of situations
• Lacking understanding about the characteristics of “normal” personal and professional relationships
• Uncomfortable in setting and maintaining healthy boundaries with others

Codependency and Addiction

Because the codependent individual already possesses many of the emotional and behavioral characteristics associated with addiction, it is understandable that a codependent person is at significant risk for drug or sex addiction. Drug use or unhealthy sexual behaviors can lead to the following:

• Having a temporary sense of control
• Additional addictive behaviors
• Using sex or drugs to fill a void from the lack of love and healthy relationships
• Avoiding reality so as not to engage in constructive and meaningful relationships
• Hiding from things that make codependent individuals fearful such as abandonment and isolation

Getting Help for Codependency and Addiction

The best environment in which a person can receive treatment for drug or sex addiction is an integrated addiction treatment facility. Quality treatment facilities address both physical and psychological issues related to addiction. This combined treatment helps a person understand his or her codependent thoughts and behaviors and addresses the root causes of addiction.

Get Help for Codependency and Addiction

If you or someone you know is codependent or an addict, call our toll-free helpline. We are available 24 hours a day to answer any questions you might have about treatment for codependency and addiction.

The post How Codependency Impacts Drug and Sex Addictions appeared first on Addiction Help Center.

Some people believe that there is no such thing as sexual addiction, but it is actually a medically-recognized condition. The difference between healthy sexuality and sexual addiction is clear when you know the signs. When sex addiction becomes an issue, it can lead to damaged relationships, financial trouble, low self-esteem, depression and more.

Signs and Symptoms of Sexual Addiction

• Sexual thoughts and behaviors are secretive, shameful or abusive
• Sex becomes less pleasurable and more compulsive and uncomfortable as time passes
• The addiction may involve online pornography or the hiring of prostitutes
• Large amounts of time, money or energy go into pursuing sexual interests or relationships
• Relationships, marriages and jobs are affected by the addiction
• The sexual addict cannot stop the behavior even though he or she tries to stop
• Illegal activity is used to meet sexual addiction needs
• The sexual addict often lies to himself and may deny there is a problem
• The sexual behavior increases in intensity over time and soon grows out of control
• The sexual addict feels powerless and unable to control her sexual urges

One key factor to be aware of when it comes to sexual addiction: like any other addiction, the addicted person feels a “high” sensation from sexual activity. Over time that person will require more and more sexual activity to maintain that high.

How is Sexual Addiction Treated? Will I Have to Give Up All Sexual Activity?

You may be asking yourself if sexual addiction treatment involves complete abstinence from all sexual activity. For some people complete abstinence from sex and sexual activity may be necessary. For others, a break from sexual activity for a pre-determined amount of time may be needed.

The key to a successful sexual recovery plan is that there should be a clear set of goals in place. Because the biggest challenge in addiction is maintaining personal values and beliefs, it is important for the sexually addicted person to rediscover his beliefs and set clear expectations for the future. This may mean a plan involving no sex, sex with a spouse, or a defined sexual plan that clearly lays out agreed-upon sexual boundaries.

Another important part of sexual addiction recovery is the discovery of what is behind the behavior. Why has sex and sexual activity become so important and so out of control? These questions can best be answered by working with a trained counselor.

Need Help Finding Sexual Addiction Treatment?

We offer a completely confidential helpline that is staffed by trained counselors to aid you in your journey. We can help you find treatment, understand sexual addiction, find treatment, arrange for an intervention, arrange and plan for treatment, and find affordable treatment for you and your family. We off a 24 hour, toll-free helpline and we take your privacy very seriously. End the cycle now— call and learn more about your options today.

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While it makes people more squeamish than talking about a shopping addiction or even a drug problem, these types of addictions like sex addiction is just like any other compulsion. According to Sex Addicts Anonymous, “the essence of all addiction is the addicts’ experience of powerlessness over a compulsive behavior, resulting in their lives becoming unmanageable. The addict is out of control and experiences tremendous shame, pain and self-loathing. The addict may wish to stop — yet repeatedly fails to do so.”

Sex addiction can manifest itself in many ways including:

• Extensive viewing of pornography
• Masturbating excessively
• Having affairs or sexual behavior with prostitutes

Sex addiction is estimated to affect three to six percent of adults in the United States, according to the Mayo Clinic, CNN.com reports. It’s hard to accurately track a disorder, though, that the American Psychiatric Association has not even classified in its diagnostic handbook.

The Internet has created an atmosphere where compulsion can be acted out in a private manner so that someone afflicted by the compulsion of masturbating, having live chat, or sending pornographic pictures can be done in isolation. The increased availability of porn and cybersex has facilitated a surge in sexual compulsive behavior cases, internet addictions and the numbers continue to rise. The sex addict who is online also acts out offline. The secrets and fantasy lives of a sex addict stay hidden until they seek help.

“We’re seeing it with epidemic proportions now, particularly with regards to cybersex,” said Mark Schwartz, psychologist and former director of the Masters and Johnson Institute in St. Louis, Mo. “There isn’t a week that goes by where I don’t get two calls” about sex addiction, Schwartz told CNN.com.

Learning a New Lifestyle

In general, a client’s biggest fear is that they will not be able to stop acting out. Learning new behaviors is essential. There are several studies dating back to the early ’70s documenting a neuron-chemical change that takes place in the body during sexual behavior. Patrick Carnes states, “Contrary to enjoying sex as a self-affirming source of physical pleasure, the sex addict has learned to rely on sex for comfort from pain, for nurturing or relief from stress.”

Sex addiction can manifest in a variety of ways, however, through group and individual counseling, a sex addict begins to see the similarities in their manifestations compared to peers dealing with compulsions.

Sexual Addiction Help

Please call our toll free number at (877) 259-5635 if you or someone you know is struggling with a sexual addiction. We are available 24 hours a day to answer your questions about sex addiction treatment.

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