Sexual addiction is any sexually-related, compulsive behavior which interferes with normal living and causes severe stress on family, friends, loved ones, and one's work environment. Sexual addiction has been called sexual dependency and sexual compulsivity. By any name, it is a compulsive behavior that completely dominates the addict's life. Sexual addicts make sex a priority more important than family, friends, and work. Sex becomes the organizing principle of addict's lives. They are willing to sacrifice what they cherish most in order to preserve and continue their unhealthy behavior. If sexual addiction has impacted your life, here are resources to help you heal from its effects.

Resources for Healing

HELPFUL READING

  • For Heterosexual Men and General Sexual Addiction: Out of the Shadows, by Patrick Carnes PhD; Don’t Call it Love, by Patrick Carnes PhD; Sex Addiction 101, by Robert Weiss LCSW
  • For Internet and Porn Problems: The Porn Trap, by Wendy Mautz LCSW; Always Turned On: Sex Addiction in the Digital Age, by Robert Weiss LCSW & Jennifer Schnieder MD
  • For Homosexual or Bisexual Men: Cruise Control: Understanding Sexual Addiction in Gay Men, by Robert Weiss LCSW
  • For Women, Sex and Relationship Addicts: Ready to Heal: Women Facing Love, Sex and Relationship Addiction, by Kelly McDaniel LPC; Is It Love or Is It Addiction, 3rd Edition, by Brenda Schaffer PhD
  • For Partners and Spouses of Sex and Porn Addicts: Mending a Shattered Heart: A Guide for Partners of Sex Addicts, edited by Stefanie Carnes PhD; A House Interrupted: A Wife’s Story of Recovery from Her Husband’s Sex Addiction, by Marsha Corcoran; Back from Betrayal, by Jennifer Schnieder MD
  • Relationships: Relationships in Recovery: A Guide for Sex Addicts Who are Starting Over, by Linda Hatch PhD; The Couple’s Guide to Intimacy, by Drs. Bill and Ginger Bercaw

SUPPORT AND 12-STEP GROUPS FOR PORN, SEX AND LOVE ADDICTS

SUPPORT AND 12-STEP GROUPS FOR SPOUSES/PARTNERS OF SEXUAL ADDICTS

COMPUTER AND SMART-PHONE SOFTWARE HELPFUL FOR SEXUAL AND ROMANTIC ADDICTION

ON-LINE RESOURCES

This information provided courtesy of Richard C. Young, MDiv, LCSW, CSAT, a private practice clinician in St. Louis, MO.  He is a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist through the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals.  In his private practice, Mr. Young offers treatment for men and women who are struggling with compulsive sexual behaviors and experiencing destructive consequences in their lives and relationships.  He also treats partners and spouses who often are the most wounded and traumatized individuals in the relationship.