How the 12 Steps Heal Sex Addicts: Step Nine

Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

How the 12 Steps Heal Sex Addicts: Step Six

Step 6: Became willing to have these defects removed.

How the 12 Steps Heal Sex Addicts: Step Three

Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him.

How the 12 Steps Heal Sex Addicts: Step One

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over addiction and that our lives had become unmanageable.

The conviction that one can no longer engage in one’s sex addiction becomes an inarguable truth. Denial breaks down as the sex addict increasingly sees that to give way to the impulse to "pick up" has far-reaching and devastating consequences.

There are two facets of this concept in the first Step. The first "surrender," and surely the most significant, is this deep conviction that one is powerless over one’s sex addiction. One surrenders to the reality that they can never act on the impulse to "pick up." "One day at a time" is a truth that becomes an incontrovertible fact as sex addiction recovery progresses.

The second facet is that the sex addict is really surrendering their sense of uniqueness.

By Dorothy Hayden, LCSW
www.sextreatment.com

12-Step Fellowships for Sexual Addictions Focus on Sexual Sobriety

For people battling sexual addiction and sexually compulsive behaviors, it can be difficult to talk about the problem, much less find a group-based support group. Like addictions to drugs and alcohol, breaking an addiction to sex requires serious emotional and physical work, typically with a focus on sexual sobriety—and several 12- Step groups can be found to address the sexual addiction on different levels.
 

Medical Specialists Recognizing Sex Addiction as a Disorder

At a weekly meeting of Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) in Boston, most of the 50 men and women are professionals, and some are students and retirees. Bella English of Boston.com writes that this could be a meeting to save the rainforests—but these people are trying to save themselves.

Sexual Compulsivity

If you find yourself unable to control your sexual impulses and have become so obsessed with sex that it negatively affects your life, you may be suffering from sexual compulsivity. Although the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not yet recognize sexual compulsivity as a disorder, it is a very real and serious problem for about three to six percent of American adults.

Sex Addicts Anonymous

Sex Addicts Anonymous is a fellow of men and women who help each other  recover from sexual addiction or dependency.  The program is a 12-step model based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop addictive sexual behavior. There are no fees or dues.

Meetings are found in many communities, and if you are shy at first you can attend their online meetings.  If you are not yet ready to admit you have a sex addiction problem, you should look for what is called an “open” meeting, which can be attended by anyone.