Understanding How Sex Addiction Therapy Works

People struggling with sex addiction face unique challenges that extend beyond emotional turmoil and functional difficulties. Most of them endure judgement and stigma even from people important to them. These negative perceptions about the condition consistently obstructs access to professional help.

At Sivana Bali, we recognise these concerns and our team of experts keeps on educating people about the condition to eliminate its stigma. Through our continued effort to help those with sex addiction, we write in this article about a deeper understanding of sex addiction and how it is treated. 

What is Sexual Addiction?

Sexual addiction is a term that sparked interest and has been debated among clinicians across the globe over the past few years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently provided a clear definition of sexual addiction in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as Compulsive Sexual Behaviour Disorder (CSBD). Meanwhile, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) previously proposed the term Hypersexual Disorder to replace the term sexual addiction. 

Regardless of those terminologies, the majority of experts speak the same language about what constitutes a sex addiction. Generally, this condition can be described as a persistent and compulsive pattern of having sexual thoughts, fantasies, urges, and behaviours that cause clinically significant distress and negative consequences in major areas of life.

People with sex addiction often engage in different sexual pursuits excessively, like watching explicit content or pornography, masturbation, and other risky sexual interests. 

Is Sex Addiction Similar to Other Addictions?

Considering that sex addiction is a form of processed or behavioural addiction, it shares many similar characteristics with other addiction conditions such as:

• Compulsive Behaviours: Like other addictions, people who have sex addiction manifest a loss of control in their behaviours, particularly, compulsive or repetitive engagement in sexual activities despite negative consequences or adverse effects.
• Tolerance: Similar to other substance addictions, those with sex addiction also experience an increasing desire and engage in and perform sexual activities.
• Withdrawal: People with sex addiction can experience withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, physical tension, or depressed mood when they are unable to engage in their usual sexual behaviours. 
• Impairment in Important Areas of Life: Compulsive sexual behaviour may affect major areas of day-to-day functioning such as relationships with family and friends, poor performance at work, or dropping out of school.

Sex Addiction Treatment Options

People with sex addiction often feel stigmatised and judged whenever they share their struggles with others.

As a result, those factors become barriers to seeking professional help. Although speaking with experts may feel uncomfortable at first, know that this courage will lead you toward recovery. Some of the most commonly used interventions to treat sexual addiction include:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) helps you examine how your thoughts affect the way that you feel and behave. It is a goal-oriented therapy that highlights the identification of distorted thoughts as well as maladaptive behaviours, resulting in and perpetuating distress. These maladaptive thoughts and behaviours will be addressed, changed, or replaced with healthier alternative thought patterns. Below are some strategies that professional CBT therapists have used when working with someone struggling with sex addiction:

• Psychoeducation: The initial sessions of CBT are spent educating the person and their family about sex addiction as a psychological disorder. The therapist talks about the common symptoms, prognosis, treatments available, and goals of therapy.
• Thought Record: A major part of CBT is recognising faulty patterns of thought through journalling or thought records. Journalling with the therapist helps identify how these distorted thoughts are associated with sexual urges and behaviours. The individual is given a CBT worksheet on which to write about the specific situation,negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. 
• Cognitive Restructuring: After identifying the irrational thoughts related to one’s sexual urge and compulsive behaviour, the therapist’s main goal is to help the individual reconceptualise these thinking patterns by challenging them and replacing them with logical, and more sensible thoughts.
• Relaxation Techniques: Stressors in daily life can lead to compulsive sexual activities in people having sex addiction which serve as their ways to deal with them. These types of non-adaptive coping strategies are replaced in CBT sessions. Some of the strategies being taught include deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation.

Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy

There is growing evidence that trauma can result in maladaptive coping techniques, such as obsessive sexual behaviour. Trauma, particularly sexual abuse, may result in inadequate sexual development by interacting with the individual’s emotional, physical, and psychological processes that encourage healthy sexual behaviour.

As an outcome, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), a gold standard treatment for stress and trauma-related diseases, has a high success rate in treating sex addiction.

EMDR enables people to identify and recall trauma-related memories, thoughts, or sensations while engaging in bilateral movements such as eye movement, auditory clues, and tapping. This process allows both of the brain’s hemispheres to communicate with each other, allowing individuals to properly process traumatic events. 

Inpatient Rehabilitation for Sex Addiction

Inpatient rehabilitation or residential treatment, offers a structured setting designed to assist people in overcoming sex addiction. This type of intervention necessitates that participants remain on-site for a period ranging from days to months where they receive treatments that are tailored to their specific needs. This approach ensures continuous, 24/7 care and support from trained professionals.

Residential rehabilitation is typically advised for those with sex addiction especially when they are struggling to manage their recovery independently, individuals who do not benefit from outpatient care, and those living in environments lacking sufficient support. Overall, this form of treatment equips individuals with the skills needed for life post-rehab, focusing on effective strategies for handling triggers, the significance of sobriety programmes, and methods to avert potential relapse.

Consequences of Sex Addiction

Aside from the distress and impairment resulting from frequent and obsessive sexual behaviours, sex addicts can also face several challenges that affect many facets of their lives. Some of them include the following:

• Relationship Issues: In certain circumstances, the compulsion or repetitive desire to engage in sexual activity may result in infidelity, compromising not just the relationship with the partner but also with other members of the family.
• Health Problems: Excessive sexual conduct with multiple partners may contribute to STIs and HIV. 
• Legal Consequences: Individuals having uncontrolled sexual desire and problematic behaviours may engage in exhibitionistic and voyeuristic acts, which can result in legal troubles and accusations of crime.
• Loss of Interest: As individuals suffering from sex addiction focus on their sexual desire and behaviours, they may lose passion for other activities they previously enjoyed.

Seek Counselling for Sex Addiction at Sivana Bali 

A diverse range of treatment options exists for those struggling with sex addiction. If you find the weight of this condition to be excessive and unmanageable, remember that recovery is achievable with timely professional assistance. Begin reaching out to Sivana Bali and let’s embark on the healing journey together.