Resources & guidelines for treating sex addiction

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Resources & guidelines for treating sex addiction

There are number of services available for people who are dealing with sexual addiction, either as an addict or as the partner. And there are some services that are available that are no charge. There are support groups like there are for alcoholics, AA, Alcoholics Anonymous. For sex addicts there is Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sexoholics Anonymous and Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous. You can just google those and you can find a meeting in your area, there is no fee. You can show up, they’re confidential, and you can begin to relate and talk to other people who have the same problem.

There are also complimentary spouses and partners groups to those meetings in many states which you can also find on those websites. So there are services for partners that are available at no charge too.

Usually therapy is needed and certainly helpful if you are recovering from sexual addiction or partner issues and there are many therapists out there who are now being trained and specializing in that. One of the best resources for finding therapist is from The International Institute for Trauma & Addiction Professionals, IITAP. IITAP will provide you with a list of therapists who have been trained in the addiction model who understand addiction t and can help you with that. It is important that you screen therapists, as there are some who you might see who will say “Well I don’t believe in sexual addiction.” It’s unclear sometimes what they mean by that but it could be an impediment to treatment so you want to see somebody who is at least willing to consider the possibility that addiction can be part of the problem.

So the qualities in a therapist you are looking for are: certainly the therapist should have the general counseling and empathy skills that you would expect in a therapist, but in treating sexual addiction he should have some very specific training. So it’s not enough for someone to say “I know sexual addiction exists and I have read this book.”

There are very systematic models of training now and there are certifications. There is certification called “Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist” which I’m a facilitator of and a trainer of, through The International Institute for Trauma & Addiction Professionals. Those people go through extensive training and certification to get more familiar with sexual addiction. So when you are dealing with sexual addiction it is in general better to go to somebody who has had an additional training.