I am taking a class on Social Problems and we have to do a project on a certain social problem in our society. The topic I chose is drug addiction. I see this as a pretty bad social problem in the united states. I am trying to get some ideas on what causes drug addiction. What makes people want to try drugs. I know a lot of people try drugs out of curiousity or boredom or maybe stress. I don’t know because I do not use drugs. Anyways, any ideas or suggestions or anything please feel free.

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Ashley shares how she tried to cure her own addictions, and how she couldn’t find any rest. “come to me and I will give you rest” really spoke to her.

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Drug treatment centers in South Africa are becoming more widespread as the continuing battle with significant drug abuse continues. For many addicts, admission into a drug rehabilitation centre is the foundation they need to enable them to break through their first few months of abstinence in a safe and supportive environment, away from the regular routine of their using.

However, rehabilitation is not an escape from life and the problems associated with it, although in the first few months of recovery it can be immensely beneficial for an addict in treatment to focus only on themselves and not face distractions caused by problems in their everyday life.

Addiction is a disease which is incurable and progressive; over time it will get worse and can be fatal. The disease can be arrested with abstinence, proper counselling and a programme of recovery. Daily vigilance and working a programme of recovery will allow a sufferer to rebuild a life for themselves and become a functioning member of society. However, for an addict to evolve from a state of hardened drug use and absolute self destruction to being an abstinent, reliable and happy individual is not a change which occurs in a few days. The abstinence will need to be immediate, but the real problems which require attention are the deeply rooted psychological problems all addicts have.

Giving up is hard to do

There is a common saying, “an addict without drugs is like a fish out of water,” and in many aspects this statement is true. An addict is reliant on drugs, hence addiction has earned the nickname “habit”.

An addict will find drugs enmeshed in all aspects of their life and giving up something that has been the focus of their life for a long time is a shock. After years of numbing and avoiding feelings, they will suddenly have to cope with their problems without drugs and feel the emotions they have spent years avoiding.

The lifestyle associated with drug use is engrained into the addict. Associations, hang outs, dealers, image; all of these are part of an addict’s using and when drugs are removed from the life of an addict, they will still find themselves entwined in evidence of addiction, except they will not be high.

Why a treatment centre can help

In a treatment centre, addicts will still have to face life head on, but will be able to do so in a clean environment with trained professionals helping them to deal with the difficulties of beginning on road to recovery.

As mentioned previously, the problem is not the drugs, the addict’s associations, the places they frequented or the music they listened to: the problem is within the addict themselves. Being in a safe and supportive environment will make the transition into a clean life a little easier to manage.

After an addict has become abstinent, it is completely normal for them to crave drugs. Just as drug use is a symptom that something within the addict is wrong, cravings are a symptom too. Many addicts with years of recovery behind them find that when something such as feeling an uncomfortable emotion occurs, they may crave, but they are aware that it is merely a symptom that something is uncomfortable within themselves. When an addict is in the clutches of an addiction, they may want to stop but just cannot get through a day without using, similar to an addict who has just become abstinent and craves.

What to expect from a treatment centre

Every addiction treatment centre is different, depending on the psychological model of addiction treatment they follow.

Many centers provide only counselling and therapy without placing too much emphasis on the patient managing life on the ‘outside’ of their centre. Others use religion or labour as a treatment method. The most successful rate of recovery is definitely seen in addicts attending treatment centers which provide therapeutic counselling, a Twelve Step recovery programme and endorse a healthy lifestyle.

Counselling coupled with a Twelve Step programme is so successful because the counselling helps the addict deal with the past and present issues they face. A Twelve Step programme provides a way for them to remain abstinent once they have left their treatment centre as the members of a Twelve Step fellowship apply themselves daily to the principles and suggestions of the programme, keeping them motivated and able to cope with life as it happens.

The length of a patient’s stay can also help prepare them for life outside their treatment centre. Many addicts only complete a short term in a primary care facility. Such a facility usually treats patients for three to four weeks using an intensive therapy programme where the addicts are required to be in-patients and abide by strict rules. Once many leave the centre, the shock of returning to normal life can often be so great that they return to using straight away.

Addicts who attend a programme at a secondary and tertiary care facility after their primary treatment seem to have a higher rate of recovery than those who simply attend a month long course. Secondary and tertiary care facilities allow patients a little more freedom and are able to help addicts become accustomed to living life without drugs and become immersed into society once more, but in a safe and controlled environment.

Drug treatment facilities can be an incredible help for an addict beginning the process of turning their lives into a happy existence that is not dependent on drug use. Attending a treatment centre offering therapy and counselling from trained professionals on a one-to-one and group basis coupled with a Twelve Step programme and a healthy lifestyle is the best chance for an addict to create a firm foundation of recovery.

Edgar

People who are into an alcohol addiction usually feel that they do not want to consider any form of treatment for their condition. They are usually not even concerned of the fact that they are with a life-threatening addiction. But it becomes important to bring these people out of their dependency and into a suitable form of treatment. The alcohol detox in Arizona is considered to be one of the best forms of treatment for such people, but only after they have been put through an intervention and the importance of alcohol addiction treatment is driven home to them.

Denial is an important phase in the overall addiction treatment program. There an increasing number of people in this phase, Overall 90% denial rate are amongst alcohol addicts and only the remaining 10% that get into treatment. The number of people who will actually use the alcohol detox treatment is quite small.

It is said that the alcohol detox is one of the most ignored parts of addiction treatment. But it is also said that complete sobriety in alcohol addiction is not possible without this treatment. Let understand the statement with the help of the aims and intentions of alcohol detox program.

The key purpose of alcohol detox is the same as any other program, to purify the person’s body of the alcohol due to alcohol consumption for a long period of time. Since Alcohol is a liquid, it does not always get metabolized completely in the body. Due to lot of alcohol accumulation in the liver and the kidneys of the person and even in the bloodstream. This may cause health problems over the period of time.

Therefore it is important to remove this residual alcohol present in the body. The detox treatment is the only way of achieving it. In the detox program the patient is made to refrain from the alcohol completely. This making sure that there is no more alcohol consumed. The treatment providers later take a medicinal approach to purge the residual substances within their body. Depending upon the patients extent of alcohol consumption or how intense the patient’s alcohol usage has been. The duration of the treatment will depend while; most of the treatment is completed within a week. This treatment may also vary from other treatment centers.

During this process the most important effect of the alcohol detox in Arizona is the withdrawal process. This effect starts showing in one or two days after the patient has been kept abstinent from the substance. Hence in this way patient can understand that something is definitely happening in the body. But the body urges for its regular supply of alcohol. Therefore it is very important to get the person pass through this withdrawal phase of treatment and this makes the treatment real in the person’s mind. It is also an indication that the alcohol is moving out from the body and it is getting cleansed. The overall important benefit is the patient gets morally encouraged to keep away from the addiction.

Apart from this benefit the person’s body gets cleansed from the alcohol that is present in it. This is the best way to get rid of the alcohol addiction and this will also the person to prevent from the health problems. Also people who are already suffering from the health problems get benefit because of the detox program.

It is been noticed that the alcohol can is harmful to the body even years after the patient has stopped using alcohol. There are also alternative approaches used where people are helped to come out of their alcoholism through counseling and holistic approaches like yoga, meditation and also other therapies. Although people may come out of their alcohol usage, but it is very necessary to remove the un-metabolized alcohol will still remain in their bodies. The residual is what causes health problems later on in future. Many people who acquire cirrhosis of liver due to alcohol have actually stopped using alcohol several years ago. Hence, alcohol detox in Arizona is a way of ensuring that the person is out of such kind of health complications later on in life.

Unless the alcohol is entirely removed from the body, the patient will never feel completely free from addiction. There are chances of temptations reappearing. But the patient needs to be encouraged to restrict themselves for a better life. This can also be done with the help of family and the closed one. Hence the patient needs to stay away from the substance for full recovery for longer period of time.

Bruce

For parents trying to prove their innocence in child custody battles, defendants needing a resource that shows they were not drinking at the time of an accident a month ago or employers looking to hire sober employees, hair alcohol testing is the new alcohol and drug screening technology that is proving the sobriety of parents, convicting the guilty of high alcohol abuse during the moment of a crime and giving confidence to employers to hire safe pilots, surgeons and child care workers. How is hair alcohol testing better than urine alcohol testing?

When urine alcohol testing use to be the only proven technology to show whether a person has consumed alcohol, it limited the validity of the results because alcohol evaporation rate is extremely quick, not allowing testers to accurately account for blood alcohol concentrations in urine alcohol testing.

According to Alliance for Worldwide Alcohol Research and Education, 5-10% of ingested alcohol is excreted unchanged in urine, sweat, and expired air. The remainder is turned into carbon dioxide and water. For example, a shot of 80 proof alcohol, a 4 ounce glass of wine or 12 ounces of beer will be completely cleared from the body in approximately 1.75-3.5 hours.

For that reason alone, urine alcohol testing hasn’t been able to fully calculate a person’s accurate blood alcohol concentration. Now, hair alcohol testing is helping to convict the guilty as well as the innocent.

How Hair Alcohol Testing Works

With only an inch and a half of hair cut from the scalp of a person, a hair alcohol testing laboratory can find out what a person’s approximated consumption of alcohol has been up to a 30 day history and if the hair sample is longer, as much as a year of alcohol consumption can be tested. A series of assessments called FAEE, fatty acid ethyl esters and EtG, or ethyl glucuronide EtG alcohol testing are done to measure the amount of FAEE and EtG markers that are revealed in the tests only found in a person’s hair if they have consumed alcohol. The more alcohol a person has consumed, the more markers will be present on a test, which remain indefinitely.

Only shaving one’s head will affect the results of the test as there would not be any evidence which to test. Other body hair can be tested but the concentration of blood to the rest of the body’s hair does not give an accurate test result. Only scalp hair reveals an accurate enough assessment. Bleach, hair dye or other external contaminants will not affect the outcome of the test.

Hair alcohol testing is a fairly new discovery. Hair drug testing has been around for awhile, but until now, urine alcohol testing was the way to test a person for alcohol consumption. Hair alcohol testing reduces re-occurring random drug testing, hair alcohol testing is less invasive and by far proves more than a weeks worth of abuse.

More and more employers and government agencies are turning to hair alcohol testing for accurate, professional and tactful testing over urine alcohol testing.

Taylor

In this guide, the Addictive Disorders discussed refer to health matters dealing with both physical and psychological intense desires or cravings for substances or behaviours that grow into dependency. For example, not only will alcohol and drug dependency be addressed, but addictions dealing with issues like emotional, “things” or “people” attachments. The general concept is that these cravings or yearnings are ongoing in spite of the fact that they cause the addicted person, and at times others, harm at various levels; social, psychological and physical. And on the whole, the addictive disorders that are discussed are considered progressive or advancing in nature, and chronic or lasting for a long period of time, with distinct periods of recurrence.

There are some alarming facts to consider regarding addictive disorders. For instance, a recent report in the National Drug Addiction Recovery Month Kit showed the cost of alcohol and illicit drug use in the workplace, including lost productivity, accidents and medical claims to be an estimated $140 billion per year.

Another fact: every eight seconds, a person dies due to a tobacco-related illness, according to the World Health Organization.

Also, an estimated 28 percent to 30 percent of people in the U.S.A. alone have an addictive substance abuse disorder, a mental health disorder or both, according to a 2002 report by the National Mental Health Association.

And alcohol abuse and dependence occurs four times as much among men over the age of 65 than women in the same age group, according to the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health, 1999.

With Addictive Disorders being such a large important part of everyday life, this e-article strives to help clear up myths from facts and present an overview of the issues surrounding the disorders. It includes information about some of the top addictions in society today, along with a variety of solutions available to help with treatment and coping, based upon the most recent studies, research, reports, articles, findings, products and services available, so that you can learn more about Overcoming Addictions.

For example, consider the following and decide if it is myth or truth: addicts cannot be medically treated. This is a myth. Some substance addicts can be medically treated via a detoxifying program, followed up by treatment with new medicines like Bupropion (Zyban) and Naltrexone (ReVia). These medicines help people who are refraining from addictive substances to keep their desires for them in check.

Note that the contents here are not presented from a medical practitioner, and that any and all health care planning should be made under the guidance of your own medical and health practitioners. The content within only presents an overview of Overcoming Addictions research for educational purposes and does not replace medical advice from a professional physician.

Patricia

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a blanket-term for psychotherapy systems which define psychological dysfunctions as learned beliefs, interpretations, and responses as problematic behavior, with the aim of influencing or changing those problematic emotions and behaviors. (CBT) is based on the assumption that most emotional and behavioral reactions are learned. Therefore, the goal of therapy is to help clients unlearn their unwanted reactions and to learn a new way of reacting. Many of the CBT principles adopt stoicism: the emotional indifference, especially admirable patience and endurance shown in the face of adversity. The therapist’s goal is to conduct treatment sessions in a way that promotes the persons self-esteem, dignity, and self-worth while teaching him or her to unlearn problematic behavior and replace it with more helpful behavior.

No one would dispute the fact that addictive behavior is problematic; however, unlearning it is an impossible task since addiction is not a learned response! My experience has taught me that the root cause of addiction is the emotional trauma caused by family dysfunction. This emotional trauma directly relates to the addicted persons self-esteem, and for all intent and purposes can be defined as a self-esteem issue. Self-esteem is defined as having self-respect and confidence in your own merit as an individual person. So, how does one obtain a greater sense of self worth or a high level of self-esteem? Is it a commodity that can be purchased, a fruit that can be plucked from a tree, or a behavior that can be learned? Well, the proponents of (CBT) would have you believe that it can be learned, but I beg to differ with that hypothesis. Self-esteem can not be learned, purchased, or discovered through external modification or stimuli. You see, possessing confidence and merit as a person is a product of self-love, and that comes from within. However, self-respect and self-love must be propagated by the fuel of liberation! Liberation is defined as achieving freedom from traditional socially imposed constraints. In regard to addiction, these socially imposed constraints are directly related to family dysfunction. Ironically, (CBT) principles are based on stoicism which promotes the passive approach of patience and endurance in the face of adversity. In my opinion, this approach is not only fundamentally amiss but is also dangerous, and the very reason why many develop an addiction to anti depressants! How can the addicted person gain his or her self-respect by taking a stoic and passive approach by disconnecting from the dysfunctional patterns that caused the addiction in the first place?

Addiction counselors who employ (CBT) generally combine it with the support of a 12-step group program. This is not only counterproductive, but it also exacerbates the before-mentioned misguided stoic approach. The (CBT) model also outlines depression as a fundamental of psychological dysfunction, whereby describing it as hopelessness and a feeling of being powerless to change a situation. Ironically, the 12-step program promotes self-incrimination and powerlessness. Bombarding group members with shame and guilt, this program instills the inferior beliefs of personal shortcomings and defects of character. In my opinion, this is not only counterproductive, but it is also dangerous.

In summary, the primary purpose of (CBT) is to teach addicted people to modify their problematic behavior by unlearning and replacing it more helpful behavior, which is supposed to lead to an increase in self-esteem. But, taking a stoic approach to a problem that requires liberation and empowerment is absolutely absurd and hypocritical as well. The very concept of (CBT) undermines and contradicts the psychotherapy community’s basic understanding of self-esteem. I wonder if the proponents of (CBT) deal with their own emotional issues by taking a stoic approach and sweeping them under the rug! Last time I checked, disconnecting from a problem, ignoring it, and sweeping it under the rug does not liberate you from it and nor does it promote self-respect! The pile under the rug keeps growing until one falls flat on their face!!

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Vanessa

A drug addiction is strongly desiring to take a drug that makes you feel good. For example, snorting cocaine makes you energetic, alert, euphoric, with increased mental clarity. Once you’re addicted to a drug, abstaining from it becomes a nightmare. For example, abstaining from cocaine can cause agitation, depression, extreme fatigue, anxiety, angry outbursts, lack of motivation, vomiting, shaking, irritability, muscle pain, and disturbed sleep.

Thorndike’s Law of Effect

Simply put, what keeps you addicted is that taking the drug makes you feel good, and avoiding it makes you feel awful. This coincides with Thorndike’s Law of Effect: If a reward follows a particular behavior, that behavior probably will be repeated; if a punishment follows a particular behavior, that behavior probably won’t be repeated.

For example, feeling good is your reward for snorting cocaine; feeling awful is your punishment for avoiding cocaine. So what are you going to do? This is why it’s so difficult to abstain from an addiction.

You have a drug addiction and can’t quit. Now what? Don’t despair; there’s a way out. The trick is seeing your addiction differently - seeing it for what it really is.

Unemployable, Lonely, and Sick

Though taking your drug makes you feel good immediately, it makes you feel awful in the long run. For example, snorting cocaine will eventually cause health problems such as heart disease, heart attacks, respiratory failure, strokes, seizures, gastrointestinal problems, convulsions, nausea, blurred vision, chest pain, fever, muscle spasms, and coma. If you think that these health problems are bad, long-term cocaine snorting causes social problems such as lying, stealing, absenteeism at work, and sometimes even prostitution.

So basically, long-term cocaine use causes you unemployment due to your work absenteeism, loss of friends and family due to your lying and stealing, and sickness due to cocaine’s damaging effects on your body. Cocaine ultimately transforms you into a loser - unemployable, lonely, and sick!

Other popular recreational drugs such as crack, heroin, crystal meth, Vicodin, ecstasy, and OxyContin also ultimately transform you into a loser - unemployable, lonely, and sick!

Thorndike’s Law of Effect Revisited

Now let’s revisit Thorndike’s Law of Effect: If a reward follows a particular behavior, that behavior probably will be repeated; if a punishment follows a particular behavior, that behavior probably won’t be repeated.

Being unemployable, lonely, and sick is your punishment for taking your desired drug over time; being employed, loved, and healthy is your reward for avoiding your desired drug over time. So what are you going to do?

Classical Conditioning

Wait a minute! Reading this article won’t help you! Once done reading, you’ll go back to snorting cocaine, smoking crack, shooting heroin, popping OxyContin, or whatever it is you do.

That’s why I’m introducing a powerfully effective self-help intervention that you must do regularly. This self-help intervention is called Classical Conditioning. Simply put, Classical Conditioning consists of pairing a particular feeling with a particular event over and over again until they become automatically associated with each other.

Let’s say that you have a cocaine addiction and want to quit. So instead of feeling good after snorting cocaine, you want to feel awful. What makes you feel awful? Electric shock? Okay, we’ll use this.

So each time you snort cocaine, you give yourself a severe electric shock. You feel awful each time. Eventually, you’ll automatically associate snorting cocaine with feeling awful - without the electric shock! Thus, curing yourself of cocaine addiction.

Nevertheless, electrically shocking yourself isn’t socially acceptable and will attract unwanted attention. We need something more discreet. What’s more discreet than the hidden thoughts inside your head? Can you use your thoughts to make yourself feel awful? Let’s see.

You just snorted cocaine and want to make yourself feel awful for doing it. So you think, “By using cocaine, I’m making myself into a complete loser. I’m now becoming totally unemployable, lonely, and sick. Worthless. Useless. A hopeless piece of crap. Good for nothing.” How do you feel? Awful, right?

So if you think along these lines each time you snort cocaine, you’ll eventually learn to associate snorting cocaine with feeling awful - without using your thoughts to make yourself feel awful! Thus, curing yourself of cocaine addiction.

Points to Ponder

This article is tailored to those addicted to hard drugs such as cocaine, crack, heroin, crystal meth, Vicodin, ecstasy, and OxyContin. Nevertheless, the intervention discussed here can be used, with some minor adjustments, to overcome addictions to the softer drugs.

For example, smoking cigarettes doesn’t necessarily cause unemployment or loneliness. But it does cause health problems such as emphysema, heart disease, stroke, cancer, birth defects, green teeth, and spider veins. So rather than thinking of yourself as becoming unemployable, lonely, and sick each time you smoke a cigarette, you just simply think of yourself as becoming sick.

Conclusion

In the past, drug addiction was seen as an overpowering and unmanageable disease. And the addict, using his own willpower, was seen as powerless against this disease. Therefore the addict was encouraged to join a support group that might lead him to a spiritual awakening.

Currently, drug addiction is seen as self-destructive behavior maintained by the reward of taking a drug (feeling good) and the punishment of abstaining from it (withdrawal symptoms). Given this, a scientific intervention such as Classical Conditioning can effectively cure it.

Though I’m scientifically inclined, I do believe in the power of prayer; since I’ve seen it work in my own life. So by all means, pray to be free from your addiction; then go forth and free yourself with Classical Conditioning.

Ricky

Drug addiction is a complicated problem and people have a tendency to want to simplify it. This is not really possible though because the solution is necessarily complicated as well. Addiction affected us in so many ways and so any solution we might use to overcome addiction needs to address many different areas of our lives.

So many people claim to have the answers to beating addiction but the fact of the matter is that relapse rates remain quite high, regardless of what program or what approach you take. On the other hand, there are a handful of success stories among people in recovery and we can draw several parallels between their experiences if we look closely at the situation.

Here are some tips based on what has worked for me and others that I’ve worked with in recovery:

1. Don’t underestimate your disease. Every single person does at first.

2. Take care of yourself spiritually. Be mindful of your connection to your higher power today.

3. Ignore the dismal relapse rates. You are creating your own success.

4. Make a zero tolerance policy with yourself concerning relapse. Don’t even allow your mind to go there.

5. Avoid fundamentalism, even in recovery. Rigid thinking and dogma can undermine your sobriety.

6. You are creating a life of recovery and you are responsible for ALL OF IT. Yes, others can help you. Their “help” is mere advice. It is up to you to recover.

7. Don’t confuse enthusiasm for action. Figure out what you need to do to stay sober and then do it.

8. Listen to what the relapsing addicts keep preaching. Then do the opposite.

9. Take care of your social network. Reach out to others in a meaningful way.

10. Figure out a way to help other addicts or alcoholics.

Now there are other concepts and ideas out there that will help you to overcome drug addiction but if you stick to this list of ideas and actually implement then you would be further ahead than 90 percent of the struggling addicts out there.

The reason for this is not because this is a magic list of recovery principles that is better than the 12 steps or anything, but simply that most people will not actually put in the action required to rigorously follow any program.

Imagine a recovery program that instructed “don’t drink or do drugs and stand on your head all day.” This would actually work if you worked it, but does that really prove anything? Does that make it a good program? Of course not, the proof is in how well a program helps you transition to the life you really want. If a recovery program doesn’t do that then it is not worth working it. Find a vision for your own recovery and go after it using these ideas.

Robert

Sex addiction is an illness that is experienced worldwide by men and women from different backgrounds and cultures. When a person is a sex addict, they suffer from a disease which is incurable, progressive and capable of destroying the lives of not only the sufferer but of their families as well.

Sex addiction can be managed with a recovery programme and therapy but whilst in the grips of this addiction, sufferers cannot escape their obsessive and compulsive behaviour. Often sex addiction is experienced with other addictive behaviours such as drug use and eating disorders. They are all behaviours of the same disease of addiction.

Similar to other addictions such as drug addiction and alcohol addiction, sex addiction is based on obsessive and compulsive needs. The behaviour of a sex addict can include repeated empty affairs, compulsive masturbation, frequent use of prostitutes and other sex services and in extreme cases can even progress to exhibitionism, voyeurism, child molestation and rape.

Sex addicts however are not bad people. Their condition is not a moral failing: It is a spiritual unrest.

Why is Sex Addiction So Destructive?

In some Twelve Step fellowship support groups, ‘bottom line behaviour’ is identified. Bottom line behaviour is a term used to define the specific sex addict’s behaviours which they act out on.

Most sex addicts experience ‘intrigue’ which is the mental preoccupation with sexual acts. Objectifying people, constant obsession with sexual acts, flirting and generally spending much time with the preoccupation of sex is the mental state of a sex addict. These obsessions are then followed by the compulsive acting out on sexual behaviours.

Sex addiction is progressive. It may begin with compulsive masturbation and an affinity for pornography which then develops into a serious problem involving the use of prostitutes, money troubles, families being broken up and unemployment, further to which suicide can be a consequence.

When sex addiction has progressed to a severe level, the sex addict is unable to resist the impulse to act out on their sexual behaviours. They become more involved with the behaviours for longer periods of time, with greater intensity and violence to have the desired effect, resulting in their responsibilities being neglected. Without being able to fulfil their obsession and act out on the behaviour, they become irritable, restless and angry. Despite the desire to abstain and stop the sexual compulsivity because their lives are beginning to crumble, they are unable to do so. They are powerless over their sexual addiction and their lives begin to become completely unmanageable.

Treatment

Sex addiction is treatable, but incurable. Yet with therapy, abstinence from the disordered sexual behaviours and maintaining a programme of recovery on a daily basis, a sex addict can regain a normal life again. Inpatient treatment in a counselling centre can be extremely beneficial to a sex addict seeking help for their problem. Many sex addicts will be in a state of denial about their problem but once they have admitted that they have a problem, they can begin the healing recovery process.

Inpatient treatment will usually provide group therapy and individual therapy which have been found to be the most successful methods of dealing with sex addiction. Treatment facilities are a safe place for sex addicts to recover where they can process their condition with experienced and understanding people. They need never be alone in their struggle again.

Whilst in a rehabilitation centre, a sex addict will need to begin working a daily programme of recovery, such as the Twelve Steps. There are fellowships which are devoted to helping sex addicts receive support and help in their behaviour. For a sex addict to be abstinent from the behaviour does not mean that they must stay celibate for the rest of their life - it is a normal human behaviour to engage in sexual acts, just not ones which begin to destroy their lives and keep them in a terrible cycle of shame and self loathing. A sex addict who turns to celibacy as a way of dealing with the problem is not addressing the root cause - similar to a ‘dry drunk’.

With proper treatment and therapy, coupled with a programme of recovery, a sex addict can begin to lead a happy and normal life again. A recovery programme will keep a sex addict aware of their behaviours and dangerous situations which may lead to relapse and will teach them tools to cope with daily life.

Dave