Sex Addiction 101: A Basic Guide to Healing from Sex, Porn, and Love Addiction

Sex addicts are individuals who've lost control over their sexual fantasies and behavior. They are unable to stop their sexual acting out, even when they want to, and they experience significant, directly related negative life consequences-relationship issues, problems at work or in school, declining physical and emotional health, financial strain, and sometimes even legal trouble. Sex addiction is very much on the rise, thanks to digital technology. The simple fact is virtually everyone owns a computer, laptop, pad, tablet, smartphone, or some other Internet enabled device. These technologies connect us in ways that seemed unthinkable as little as ten years ago. On the plus side, this digital interconnectivity provides endless opportunities that support our very human needs for community and social interaction. Friends and family who may have been too distant for regular contact just a few years ago can now be intimately folded into our lives. Unfortunately, our ever-increasing online connectivity also provides access to an unending collection of highly arousing sexual content and willing sexual partners. And while pornography, masturbation, and anonymous/casual sex are a source of pleasurable amusement for the vast majority of people who choose to engage in those activities, individuals predisposed to addictive and impulsive behavior patterns can quickly and easily find themselves lost in an escalating, obsessive quest for sexual and/or romantic intensity. So as the number of affordable, easy links to pleasurable sexual content and activity has increased, so too has the number of people struggling with sex, porn, and love addiction. It's just that simple. Sadly, very few people possess a comprehensive understanding of this incredibly complicated disease. Robert Weiss's Sex Addiction 101: A Basic Guide to Healing from Sex, Porn, and Love Addiction addresses this issue. The book covers everything from what sexual addiction is and how it can best be treated, to how it affects various subgroups of the population such as women, gays, and teenagers, to how sex addicts can protect themselves from the online sexual onslaught. And Rob presents this material in straightforward language that any reader can understand. As such, Sex Addiction 101 is intended to enlighten the clinical population, actual sex addicts, their loved ones, and even the general public. Rob is uniquely qualified to write this book. In 1995 he founded the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, one of the first facilities anywhere offering treatment for sexual addiction and related issues. These days he is Director of Intimacy and Sexual Disorders Services at the Sexual Recovery Institute, The Ranch in Nunnelly, Tennessee, and Promises Treatment Centers in Malibu, California. Additionally, he provides sexual addiction treatment training internationally for psychology professionals, addiction treatment centers, the National Institutes of Health, and the US military. He has been featured on CNN, The Today Show, Larry King, Oprah, ESPN, and elsewhere. In other words, along with his mentor Patrick Carnes, Rob has become the face of and driving force behind understanding and treating sexual addiction.