More information on Sex Addiction
- Sexual addiction has been defined as “a persistent and escalating pattern or patterns of sexual behaviours acted out despite increasingly negative consequences to self or others.”
- Like any other addiction or compulsivity, Sex and Love addiction is a way of managing and containing profound emotional pain.
- By acting out sexually or unrealistically valuing another above themselves, the addicted individuals seek to numb the pain of an intolerable reality.
- The more that compulsive sexual behaviour is used to escape from reality, the more intolerable that reality is likely to become. A self-destructive cycle is set up, in which the need to escape increases in proportion to the chaos and shame of the individual’s life.
- Certain behaviours reflect sexual addiction and are symptomatic of the problem, especially when they become out of control and repetitive. These behaviours include:
- Compulsive masturbation
- Repeated affairs
- The use of pornography
- The use of the internet and cybersex
- Multiple anonymous partners
- Frequenting shops, clubs and other establishments specialising in sex
- Prostitution
- The consequences of sexual compulsivity are as severe as those of any other addiction. They will impact on all areas of an individual’s life: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, legal and financial.
- The brain chemistry of sexual compulsivity is not unlike that of chemical dependence.
- The difficulties of sexual and relationship addiction are often engendered in early childhood; addiction of one kind or another may already be present in the sufferer’s family.
- The existence of sexual compulsivity within a family will lead to the family developing extreme and unhealthy ways of coping with the situation. The addiction tends to become the focus, implicit or explicit, of the afflicted family’s dynamics. This will have a profound effect on everyone involved; parents, partners, children and siblings.
- 3rd level navigation:
Members of
Registered with
Alcohol Abuse . Alcoholism Treatment . Alcohol Misuse . Signs of Alcoholism . Alcohol Treatment . Alcohol Addiction . Trauma . Drug . Drug Abuse . Drug Rehab . Drug Addiction Treatment . Drug Misuse . Drug Addiction . Detox . Methadone Detox . Alcohol Detox . Drug Detox . Rehab . Counselling . Depression . Eating Disorder Treatment . Eating Disorder Recovery . Bulimia Eating Disorder . Anorexia Eating Disorder . Eating Disorder . Anorexia . Bulimia . Binge Eating . Compulsive Eating
- Contact:
- E-mail
- Phone UK 0800 081 0700
- Phone International + 44 800 081 0700