Sex addiction is a compulsion. In many ways, it can hinder and even cause romantic relationships to fail. When someone has sex addiction tendencies, it almost feels impossible to stop. It might feel upsetting stopping, relapsing, stopping, and feeling the urges to start again. The team at Wisdom Within Counseling treat sex addiction both in couples therapy and individual counseling.
What is sex addiction?
Some people, have intense sexual fantasies that are all consuming. Every waking moment, your mind is focused on sexual images and that’s real compulsive. Essentially, sex addiction means that you have obsessive thoughts and feelings about sex. Wisdom Within Counseling in Southeastern Connecticut specializes in sex addiction recovery and relapse prevention.
Is your sex addiction interfering with social outings, hobbies, your mental health and physical health?
Essentially, no matter how much sex a person has, with sex addiction, they are always chasing the next high. You may always wants to have a better high than the time before. There’s never a sense of gratification. Each sexual experience must be more of an adrenaline rush than the one before it. Working with a therapist at Wisdom Within Counseling who specializes in sex addiction can help you learn ways to cope with cravings.
To begin, click the button below for your phone consult for sex addiction therapy.
Marriage counseling can help with reducing sexual obsessions and thoughts.
A person with a sex addiction is always trying to get sexual gratification, and will always need increasing amount of sexual pleasure to feel happy. The high is always fleeting and there is a major sexual dependency that is negative in life.
What does sex addiction look like?
Some people with sex addiction will have compulsive pornography use. Despite seeing how their sex addiction may hurt their romantic partner, they continue to have affairs. The overuse of pornography can be an aspect of a sex addiction. There may also be one night stands, affair patterns, promiscuity, or a desire for multiple partners.
Is having multiple partners part of a sex addiction?
For couples who are under a consensual monogamous relationship, multiple sexual partners is cheating. However, some couples practice consensual non monogamy or polyamory. Some couples have a written signed contract of what is okay, consensual, and permitted. Sex addiction can cause problems at work, school and marital life.
If you feel your drive for sexual pleasure overwhelms you or pulls you away from family, Wisdom Within Counseling can help. you can gain skills to build honest, loving, and trusting relationships.
Signs of sex addiction and needing counseling
As well, with sex addiction there may be excessive masturbation. With sex addiction counseling, understanding when this tendency occurs most is part of the process. If you are sexually addicted, you may unintentionally cause physical injury, chafing, or bleeding. Your body or genitals may be sore, bruised, hurting, or in pain. These are negative impacts due to excessive masturbation.
There may be sexting within or outside of the marriage.
There may be use of porn sites and video camera sites. Sex addicts also take part in prostitution, the use of escorts, and prostitutes. A person with a sex addiction may also have unsafe or high-risk sexual behaviors like unprotected sex.
Infidelity is very problematic for sex addicts and it creates feelings of betrayal in the marriage.
Almost everyone with a sex addiction also is unfaithful. Addiction makes it very hard to build trusting relationships. With sex addiction, you might feel like you are unable to control it. There is an urge inside of you that continues.
It feels like there is a fire where you depend on sexual images and sex to feel happier.
As well, you know deep down that your addiction makes your intimate relationship suffer.
Men and women can all have sexual addictive behaviors.
How does a sex addiction develop?
To note, sexual compulsion and sex addictive behaviors develop in adolescent or childhood years typically. Also, sexually addictive behaviors develop to serve a purpose. Sex addicts numb out their emotions of hurt and loss. As well, sexual addiction is a sign that healthier coping tools are necessary. Sexual addiction can be a way to cope with emotional pain and loss.
In adolescence and childhood years, a person may have gone through severe trauma and developed a sexual addiction.
Perhaps, you were sexually abused, molested, or raped in childhood. In adolescence, maybe there was a sense of loneliness. Sexual acts are a way to increase oxytocin and dopamine. So, just like cutting and self harm is dangerous, people still do it for the rush. It is the same for sexual addiction. Even though it is sabotaging, there still an emotional high and brain chemistry high during sex.
Sexual addictions increase dopamine and oxytocin just like the use of drugs and alcohol.
Each time someone has sex, they require more sexual stimulation to get the same high. So, learning positive coping tools through holistic counseling can help reduce hyper sexual behaviors. If you have experienced a trauma such as sexual abuse, or sexual trauma in someway as a child, that may be one of the roots of your sexual addiction. There is a lot of shame a guilt with addiction. Therefore, counseling promotes self-compassion and self-forgiveness. Counseling supports distress tolerance skills and self-acceptance.
Sexual addiction is a chaotic escape from painful emotions.
Additionally, you may have also been a victim of physical abuse or domestic violence as a child. Trauma causes sexual addictive behaviors to increase. Some people with a very high libido may be sexual addicts. Even instances of emotional abuse can contribute to sexual addiction. Wisdom Within Counseling teaches positive coping tools for releasing emotions.
Sex addiction can also develop because of cultural expectations. If you grew up in an environment where your sexuality was rejected, you may be overly expressing it now in your adult years.
How does a Wisdom Within Counseling help adults and couples with sexual addiction?
Well, just like other addictions like compulsive shopping, gambling, we offer a positive coping tools. Our team specializes with marriage counseling, trauma, and sex addiction. Sometimes, people with sex addiction develop a secondary addiction such as to alcohol and alcoholism. Other times, people with sex addiction tendencies and behaviors will compulsively exercise or work out too much to the point of hurting your body. You maybe using sexual activity is to cope with past trauma that is unresolved. Substance use is very common along with sex addiction.
To begin, click the button below for your phone consult for sex addiction therapy.
Counseling for sex addiction at Wisdom Within in East Lyme, Connecticut helps you learn positive coping tools
Healing from sex addiction and attending counseling is important. To note, it is almost impossible to stop any addiction and isolation. Talking about childhood traumas and the route of sex addiction is a huge part of healing. You have experiences of strange, different sexual encounters. Or, in childhood, you had a parent who had an affair and was unfaithful, and you watched that. Overall, sex addiction counseling can help you cope in health ways with distressing feelings. Maybe, sex has always been there fore you.
Counseling can help reduce sexual compulsions and urges.
How can counseling help?
You can start to identify self sabotaging behaviors and grow out of negative patterns. Also, you can start to understand what is within your control and what is outside of your control. In sex addiction counseling, you can learn to embrace your high sex drive in a positive way. You can learn how to be honest vs. lie. Honesty is a huge part of sex addiction therapy. It is really common for sex addicts to keep secrets and lie, from childhood years. Some sex addicts have also been considered pathological liars. The addiction seems overwhelming and telling the truth seems like it will cause more hurt than good. Internal Family Systems Therapy supports self-compassion in recovery. Also, keeping secrets and understanding the damage of secret keeping is a big part of sex addiction therapy.
Learn to manage compulsive thoughts in sex addiction counseling in Southeastern Connecticut
There might be a relentless need to masturbate and view pornography. If you feel like you can’t get through the day without looking at pornography, Wisdom Within Counseling can help. Maybe, you have to look at it every day to survive. So, sex addiction therapy in Southeastern Connecticut can be very helpful.
Additionally, you may know that your sex addiction and compulsive sexual behaviors damage relationships.
Counseling can give you healthy ways to release shame and guilt. As well, you might see the significant damage, but continue to seek out sexually stimulating situations. The adrenaline rush just feels so good in the moment. You might have even put yourself in danger due to sexual needs and your sex addiction. The lying seems to pile up and have a snowball effect. Counseling supports your relationship with your mind, body, and spirit. As well, holistic counseling can help you understand yourself better. You can learn the root cause of your hyper sexual behaviors. And, you can gain positive coping tools and relapse prevention skills. We understand the pain sex addiction has caused in your life and relationship.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, we help couples and individuals heal from sex addiction.
Learning to love yourself through addiction and accept yourself are parts of sex addiction therapy.
Working with a counselor can help you love and accept yourself. If you have sex addiction, you are not alone and there is hope. The team at Wisdom Within Counseling would love to help you heal from sex addiction. If it feels like you are unable to control your sexual behavior despite many hurtful negative consequences, counseling can be very helpful. We help you reconnect to your mind, body, and spirit. You can also choose from art therapies, yoga therapies, music therapies, and walking therapies by the beach.
