Sexual Addiction and Pornography Addiction Treatment
When is a person’s sexual behavior an addiction versus simply a behavior that sometimes causes problems? And, how severe do problems have to be for a person to feel he/she needs treatment? Answering these questions is a deeply personal process and can be complicated. However, a starting point is to ask yourself if you have experienced distressful consequences due to your sexual behavior, have wanted and tried to stop, but have been unable to consistently abstain from that behavior. If you feel this describes your experience you may be struggling with sexual addiction. You can get help in assessing the seriousness of your behavior through a free sexual dependency survey called the “ Sexual Addiction Screening Test (SAST) ” on the internet.
Treatment for sexual addiction at Healing Vistas often encompasses three different modes of therapy: Individual Therapy, Group Therapy, and Marriage/Couples Therapy. As a therapist specializing in treating sexual addiction and pornography addiction I have been trained as a Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist (CSAT) through IITAP, the organization founded by Dr. Patrick Carnes, one of the pioneers of sexual addiction treatment. The treatment process I use is guided by the methodology and tools created by Dr. Carnes.
The first steps in that process are related to answering questions about the seriousness of an individual’s sexual behaviors and the possible causes of those behaviors. This is accomplished through initial online sessions where the individual and the therapist begin to have insights into the reasons for specific sexual behaviors and ways in which trauma and unhealed relationship wounds may be contributing to problems. These tools help guide treatment planning by ensuring that therapy addresses not just stopping the surface behaviors, but more importantly healing deeper issues that tend to cause relapse.
Following the assessment and treatment planning process, the addict begins individual therapy. The “gold standard” for treatment of any addiction is a combination of individual therapy and group work, where individual one-on-one therapy is intended to treat deeper issues and wounds, and group work helps reduce shame, build self-esteem and provides 24-hour assistance to help ensure abstinence from the addictive behavior. Therefore, at some point after starting individual therapy the addict is encouraged to become involved in an addiction support group or engage in group therapy.
Since sexual addiction is an affliction that affects not just the addict but also his/her partner, it is recommended that the partner also seek help. This help also usually involves individual therapy and group work.
When sufficient stability is achieved in both the addict and his/her partner, they are ready to begin couples counseling or marriage therapy using Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). which has proven to be effective with about 75 percent of all couples who are interested in working through their relationship problems.