Sex Addiction Therapy Program

Substance use disorder often occurs in conjunction with intimacy disorders. In order to achieve long-term recovery and reduce the risk of relapse, it is important to treat both issues simultaneously. Clients who participate in sex addiction therapy programs learn the skills needed to experience genuine intimacy in their lives. This includes assertion training and deconditioning fears around being emotionally honest. Clients learn that getting hurt is always possible in relationships, but it doesn’t have to be devastating.

What to Expect From a Sex Addiction Therapy Program

Intimacy disorder treatment/sex addiction treatment programs focus on attachment-related disorders. We teach clients that intimacy requires self-worth and a strong sense of self. Having a strong sense of self allows us to be vulnerable in relationships and achieve real intimacy, which is allowing another to truly know you.

Group sessions use the work of Patrick Carnes, Ph.D., best-selling author, pioneer in the field of sex addiction treatment, and founder of the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals,  to talk about “facing the shadows.” We also draw on the work of best-selling author and renowned lecturer Pia Mellody to talk about love addiction. Clients use experiential methods and psychodrama to help them process the work done in intimacy therapy.

We offer an interpersonal relationships group that addresses physical and/or emotional intimacy. Intimacy is characterized by friendship, platonic love, romantic love, or sexual activity. Intimate relationships play a central role in the overall human experience. Humans have a general desire to belong and to love, which is usually satisfied within an intimate relationship. These relationships involve feelings of liking or loving, romance, physical or sexual attraction, sexual relationships, or emotional and personal support between partners. Intimate relationships allow people to form a support network with strong emotional attachments.

Benefits of a Sex Addiction Treatment Program

Clients will begin to understand how sex addiction is actually intimacy avoidance, and that often, people with intimacy disorders are afraid of intimacy because of their early life experiences. Clients will learn about boundaries, and how to process and overcome their fears of abandonment, rejection, conflict, or being overpowered by another person, among other concerns.