Yesterday’s request of Racine’s former mayor to attend treatment center for compulsive sexual behavior and trauma are bringing his legal charges – and discussions about sex addiction – back into the public eye.
Many people are asking if individuals who are attracted to unhealthy and destructive forms of sexual activity can be "cured.”
This is a complicated question. An answer about a “cure” – or lack of same – would be very easy to answer if all offenders fit an identical profile.
However, there are many profiles of a person who acts compulsively with regard to sexual activity – just as there are many profiles with individuals who are caught up with compulsive use of alcohol, drugs, spending, gambling and other high-risk behaviors. Here, it is important to have a thorough assessment by professionals who are able to determine long-term behavior patterns and the true level of the illness. Sometimes the illness is contributes to activities that break the law -- for instance, an alcoholic who has a car accident when driving while intoxicated is acountable for that accident and injuries or deaths that result. In most areas, it is not against the law to gamble, but legal authorities will be calling if you embezzle money from your employer. With respect to sex addiction, individuals may find themselves in legal trouble if their actions violate a law; a pedophile is defined ins psychological terms one who is attracted to children, 13 years of age and younger, and there are other laws as well. Addictions of all kinds affect the brain, and the person’s brain can be retrained to respond to triggers differently and to learn and practice healthy behaviors. Addictions cannot be "cured." But they can be treated, and a recovering person can learn how to abstain from destructive behavior and respond with healthy choices with awareness, motivation and support. Many good programs are available for in-depth treatment which often includes treatment for depression and anxiety; The Keystone treatment center employs a variety of standard and innovative treatment modalities, including psychodrama, a powerful action method that is often used in psychotherapeutic settings.
Keystone's Web site provides a good overall view of how sexual acting-out behaviors can damage people, marriages, jobs and families – just as alcohol and drugs do. There is an excellent article by Susan J. Campling, Psy.D., the center’s director, that should answer many common questions. She says:
Many people are asking if individuals who are attracted to unhealthy and destructive forms of sexual activity can be "cured.”
This is a complicated question. An answer about a “cure” – or lack of same – would be very easy to answer if all offenders fit an identical profile.
However, there are many profiles of a person who acts compulsively with regard to sexual activity – just as there are many profiles with individuals who are caught up with compulsive use of alcohol, drugs, spending, gambling and other high-risk behaviors. Here, it is important to have a thorough assessment by professionals who are able to determine long-term behavior patterns and the true level of the illness. Sometimes the illness is contributes to activities that break the law -- for instance, an alcoholic who has a car accident when driving while intoxicated is acountable for that accident and injuries or deaths that result. In most areas, it is not against the law to gamble, but legal authorities will be calling if you embezzle money from your employer. With respect to sex addiction, individuals may find themselves in legal trouble if their actions violate a law; a pedophile is defined ins psychological terms one who is attracted to children, 13 years of age and younger, and there are other laws as well. Addictions of all kinds affect the brain, and the person’s brain can be retrained to respond to triggers differently and to learn and practice healthy behaviors. Addictions cannot be "cured." But they can be treated, and a recovering person can learn how to abstain from destructive behavior and respond with healthy choices with awareness, motivation and support. Many good programs are available for in-depth treatment which often includes treatment for depression and anxiety; The Keystone treatment center employs a variety of standard and innovative treatment modalities, including psychodrama, a powerful action method that is often used in psychotherapeutic settings.
Keystone's Web site provides a good overall view of how sexual acting-out behaviors can damage people, marriages, jobs and families – just as alcohol and drugs do. There is an excellent article by Susan J. Campling, Psy.D., the center’s director, that should answer many common questions. She says:
“Today we understand the powerlessness the addicted person feels and have begun to recognize that the pleasure of addiction, the “high” can result from substances outside and inside of the person. Behaviors can trigger the release of internally produced chemicals that create the pleasure high and at least temporarily, alter mood. Sex, gambling, exercise and shopping are only a few of the behaviors that can alter a person’s mood. When the addicted person continues to engage in these behaviors despite negative consequences, we see the footprints of addiction.
I must challenge views that inpatient treatment is “ineffective.”
When I worked as a psychotherapist at Caron Treatment Centers, an inpatient treatment center for chemically addicted persons and their families in Wernersville, Pa., we often referred to other centers for specialized treatment, such as eating disorders, sex addiction and the like. Keystone, located in a nearby county, was one of several referral options.
Inpatient treatment at a quality treatment center gives the individual the opportunity to fully focus on addressing the illness without distractions that daily life presents. It is a real chance to make significant changes, if the person is motivated to learn and grow. Part of the learning is to identify healthy risks that lead to help and healing rather than unhealthy risks that lead to secrecy and shame.
It’s also important that a person, once discharged, is willing to follow recommendations of continuing care. Such recommendations might involve ongoing outpatient therapy, participation at self-help meetings, abstinence from mood-altering chemicals and other lifestyle alterations.
Another important resource is Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, a 12-step group that offers a simple and yet very effective program for individuals who are motivated to recover. Its name refers to both to individuals who are addicted to some sort of sexual activity, as well as those who have a chronic and compulsive preoccupation with romance, intrigue or fantasy. Others have found help at a similar group, Sex Addicts Anonymous.
SLAA and SAA are structured self-help programs based on the original steps of Alcoholics Anonymous – which has literally helped millions of people to recover from compulsive use of alcohol and birthed many other helpful groups, including Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous and Nicotine Anonymous and programs for family members of those addicted.
As Susan Campling says:
When I worked as a psychotherapist at Caron Treatment Centers, an inpatient treatment center for chemically addicted persons and their families in Wernersville, Pa., we often referred to other centers for specialized treatment, such as eating disorders, sex addiction and the like. Keystone, located in a nearby county, was one of several referral options.
Inpatient treatment at a quality treatment center gives the individual the opportunity to fully focus on addressing the illness without distractions that daily life presents. It is a real chance to make significant changes, if the person is motivated to learn and grow. Part of the learning is to identify healthy risks that lead to help and healing rather than unhealthy risks that lead to secrecy and shame.
It’s also important that a person, once discharged, is willing to follow recommendations of continuing care. Such recommendations might involve ongoing outpatient therapy, participation at self-help meetings, abstinence from mood-altering chemicals and other lifestyle alterations.
Another important resource is Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, a 12-step group that offers a simple and yet very effective program for individuals who are motivated to recover. Its name refers to both to individuals who are addicted to some sort of sexual activity, as well as those who have a chronic and compulsive preoccupation with romance, intrigue or fantasy. Others have found help at a similar group, Sex Addicts Anonymous.
SLAA and SAA are structured self-help programs based on the original steps of Alcoholics Anonymous – which has literally helped millions of people to recover from compulsive use of alcohol and birthed many other helpful groups, including Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous and Nicotine Anonymous and programs for family members of those addicted.
As Susan Campling says:
“Today, it is no longer socially acceptable to laugh at the pain of alcoholism. Today we continue to glorify the sexual conquests of TV stars and pass judgment upon the "moral failings” of persons unable to stop their sexual acting out. We freely use words like “pervert,” “nympho” and lecher. Perhaps it is our fear that diseases can happen to anyone and that we are all vulnerable that is intolerable. Instead of drunks or perverts, persons suffering from addiction, might be something else. They might be people worthy of our understanding and compassion. They might be us.”
