Sex Addiction Treatment
Treatment of sex addiction
Overcoming sexual compulsivity and addiction starts with recognizing that you are out of control sexually. Getting to that point requires taking a
hard look at yourself and the problems - emotional, physical, financial, or legal - caused by your sexual behavior. Is your life un-manageable
because of your sexual behavior?
Treatment focus
Treatment will focus on two main issues. The first is the logistical concerns of separating you from harmful sexual behavior in the same way drug
addicts need to be separated from drugs.
Accomplishing this might require inpatient or residential treatment for several weeks. An inpatient setting protects you from the abundance of sexual
images and specific situations or people that trigger compulsive sexual behavior. It's simply harder to relapse in a structured and tightly
controlled setting. Sometimes, you can succeed in an outpatient setting with adequate social, family and spiritual support.
The second and most difficult issue involves facing the guilt, shame and depression associated with this illness. It takes trust and time with a
competent therapist to work through these emotions. If you are very depressed, the best treatment might be an inpatient residential setting where
professionals can monitor and properly manage your symptoms.
12-Step Programs
Twelve-step programs, such as Sexaholics Anonymous, apply principles similar to those used in other addiction programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous
and Narcotics Anonymous. However, unlike AA, where the goal is complete abstinence from all alcohol, SA pursues abstinence only from compulsive,
destructive sexual behavior. By admitting powerlessness over their addictions, seeking the help of God or a higher power, following the required
steps, seeking a sponsor and regularly attending meetings, many addicts have been able to regain intimacy in their personal relationships.
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy
This approach looks at what triggers and reinforces actions related to sexual addiction and looks for methods of short-circuiting the process.
Treatment approaches include teaching addicts to stop sexual thoughts by thinking about something else; substituting sexual behavior with some other
behavior, such as exercising or working out; and preventing the relapse of addictive behavior.
Interpersonal Therapy
People addicted to sex often have significant emotional baggage from their early lives. Traditional "talk therapy" can be helpful in increasing self
control and in treating related mood disorders and effects of past trauma.
Group Therapy
Group therapy typically consists of a healthcare professional working with a group of between six and 10 patients. Working with other addicts allows
you to see that your problem is not unique. It also enables you to learn about what works and what doesn't from others' experiences, and draw on
others' strengths and hopes. A group format is ideal for confronting the denial and rationalizations common among addicts. Such confrontation from
other addicts is powerful not only for the addict being confronted, but also for the person doing the confronting, who learns how personal denial and
rationalization sustained addiction.
Medication
Recent research suggests that certain psychiatric medications -- namely antidepressants -- may be useful in treating sexual addiction. In addition to
treating mood symptoms common among sex addicts, these medications may have some benefit in reducing sexual obsessions.
Hmmmm.....Sounds to me like isolation therapy to a degree. Along with airing out dirty laundry in group therapy and medication. The medication,
antidepressants, can really lower sex drive.
I guess isolation, quasi-humiliation, and medicating one to reduce the chance of sexual pleasure could work.....
[edit on 10/10/2008 by skeptic1]
Do they shock you while making you watch pron? 
) 
