Jeremy is a 39-year-old electrician and a married father of three. From a distance, his life looks OK. He’s got a steady job, a nice house, and a family. Yet he’s entered therapy (without telling his wife) for what feels to him like depression and debilitating anxiety. And this is not his first secretive trip …
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Celia, a 32-year-old businesswoman, 11 months sober from sex and love addiction, has decided that she is ready to start dating again. However, she is worried about relapsing, especially because she has tried to establish lasting sex and relationship sobriety several times in the past without much luck. This time, however, she plans to do …
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After more than a decade of active drug addiction paired with compulsive sexual activity, Marcus, a single 31-year-old delivery driver, entered treatment for both disorders. Initially, he was highly motivated and happy to be sober. Then, after about a year of almost total focus on his recovery, he started to wonder if he would ever …
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Sadly, some counselors and therapists have not learned current clinical understanding, best practices, and the latest research regarding the assessment and understanding of human sexual arousal. Nor have they learned to leave their highly personalized moral, religious, and ethical judgments at the door when they walk into the therapy space. Sadly, these men and women …
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For most recovering sex addicts who are not already in a long-term relationship, healthy dating and sexuality is an important goal of recovery. However, because they’ve spent so much of their lives chasing sexual intensity rather than any sort of true intimate connection, they often approach this task with trepidation. Generally speaking, their three primary …
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Active sex and porn addicts rarely view their escapist sexual fantasies and behaviors as a root cause of their unhappiness and life challenges. Even when they are neck deep in negative consequences, sex addicts somehow don’t let themselves think about their sexual acting out as a contributing factor to their misery. In fact, they typically …
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Guest Blog from Dr. Stefanie Carnes Over the years I have developed a tremendous amount of respect for Dr. Stefanie Carnes and her work as both a clinician and a trainer of clinicians. Currently, she serves as President of the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals and as a National Clinical Consultant for Elements …
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If you are a recovering alcoholic or drug addict with solid support and a lot of motivated willingness to get well, you can make it through the rest of your life without taking another drink or abusing an addictive drug. Similarly, compulsive gamblers can live a full and happy lives without ever re-entering a casino, …
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Tolerance: Tolerance occurs when the body needs increasingly larger or more potent doses to get the same effect from an addictive substance or a behavior. Escalation: Escalation occurs when a person indulges his or her tolerance to an addictive substance or behavior with larger or more potent doses.
