Sex addiction is every bit as real as substance addiction. As such, just like with drug addiction, you also need knowledge of helpful tips for sex addiction treatment. While it is not formally diagnosable, sex addiction can have several adverse consequences in the life of the affected person.
This can range from physical issues, such as STIs to mental and emotional distress. Sex addiction can be somewhat complicated to overcome, as often, it is never about the sexual activity itself. However, with the right tips for sex addiction treatment, you can fight this addiction and win.
Furthermore, sex addiction can make it extremely difficult to concentrate on living life. The condition causes persistent sexual thoughts that interfere with one’s ability to work, maintain healthy relationships, or complete daily chores. So you see, it is vital that you seek help on how to overcome your sex addiction.
In this blog post, you will discover vital resources that can aid you in your treatment for sex addiction. If you are in recovery from sex addiction, you can also benefit from these tips.
Before we go into the numerous tips for sex addiction treatment, let us first shed some light on what the condition is in the first place.
What Is Sex Addiction?
Sex addiction, also known as hypersexual disorder, is a mental state characterized by a compulsive need to engage in sexual activity despite adverse consequences.
People with sex addiction find it extremely difficult to control their sexual urges, behaviours or thoughts. This condition is similar to that of people addicted to alcohol or opiate experiences. The hypersexual disorder causes a compulsive need in a person such that they feel they have to perform sexual acts to get their ‘fix.’
Although sex addiction has been recognized as a disorder, its diagnosis has a lot of controversies. Hence, the condition does now show up in the fifth edition of ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ (DSM-5). However, this does not make the threat of sex addiction any less real.
Sex addiction is capable of wreaking severe havoc in the lives of those it affects. This is why we have created a concise collection of tips for sex addiction treatment to help you win your life back.
You must note that hypersexual disorder is not the same as disorders such as pedophilia and bestiality. To help you gain clarity, we will outline some of the signs of sex addiction.
- Obsessive sexual thoughts and fantasies
- Compulsive relations with multiple partners, including strangers.
- Lying to cover up sexual behaviours
- Preoccupation with having sex despite it interfering with daily life, productivity, etc.
- An inability to put a handle on sexual behaviours
- Exposing oneself to danger to satisfy sexual urges
- Feeling remorseful or guilty after sexual activity
- Experiencing other negative consequences due to sex
If you can relate to the above symptoms, then you may have an addiction to sex. We recommend that you reach out to an expert or walk into a sex addiction treatment centre in Toronto. This way, you can know for sure and take steps to get better, if need be.
Forms of Sex Addiction
Indeed, the medical world is still a tad divided about sex addiction. Certain organizations like the World Health Organization already recognize it as a mental health issue of its own. However, some others do not. Those who do, consider it a symptom of another problem.
One of the helpful tips for sex addiction treatment is to understand the kind of addiction. You see, whether it is merely a symptom or it is a challenge on its own, the problem can show itself in several forms.
- Pornographic addiction. In this case, the person might not necessarily want to have sex all the time. But, they’d feel an obsessive need to watch porn. This often goes with the next on our list.
- Masturbation addiction. Here, the person is more inclined to touch themselves. This happens even if it is detrimental to them in one way or the other.
- Extramarital affairs. This sexual activity can become an obsession or addiction of sorts. It might not necessarily mean the person’s spouse is unattractive. They would just rather be sexually involved with someone else. The intentional disregard for their marital life is a key indicator that classifies this as an addiction.
Of course, there are others like the constant visiting of prostitutes or an obsession with sex toys. But, these are some of the most common.
Regardless, however, you must keep in mind that a person isn’t necessarily a sex addict just because they like one or more of these things. The need for sex addiction treatment arises when any one of these things start to affect you physically or personally.
The numbers also show that the different forms of sex addiction are common among adults in Canada. Research states that 3%-5% of adults exhibit some form of sexual addiction behaviour. In fact, 1 of every 3 men admits that they are addicted to pornography. Here’s how this kind of behaviour develops.
Related article: Tips to Help You Motivate a Loved One to Get Addiction Treatment
Causes of Sex Addiction
Sex addiction, like most other types of addiction, doesn’t happen in isolation. It may be due to physical, physiological, or mental factors. A few of them are:
Hormones
Androgen is a hormone in your body that’s responsible for sexual arousal. Like virtually all other hormones in you, it can be produced in excess or in deficit. If the former is the case, you can expect to be significantly more obsessed with sex than the latter.
Mental Health Challenges
It’s a known fact that people turn to drugs when they find their depression or anxiety unbearable. In the same vein, one of the helpful tips for sex addiction treatment is understanding that people turn to sex when they need to get away from mental stress. This can be depression or anxiety, among others.
Brain Chemistry
During sex, your brain releases your pleasure hormones known as dopamine and oxytocin. These hormones often leave you feeling excited or incredibly pleasurable. There’s a slight chance that you can get addicted to those hormones, constantly craving them. If that happens, you might use sex as a way to get them all the time.
Why you Must Learn How to Get Rid of Sex Addiction
In the next section, we’ll be providing details on helpful tips for sex addiction treatment. But, just in case you don’t see sex addiction as much of a problem, you should know a few things:
- Frequent sex can lead to an unwanted pregnancy. Contraceptives don’t always work.
- Excessive sex can leave you feeling tired very often, especially if you’re male. This will then reduce your productivity levels, affecting you at work.
- Sex addiction can leave you even more vulnerable to STDs/STIs.
All in all, you really should try to find out the steps to beating sex addiction. Doing otherwise might be more harmful than helpful.
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Tips To Help You Overcome Sex Addiction
Sex addiction is one of the most challenging addictions to overcome. While people with substance abuse need to and can discontinue substance use, the process is not as straightforward with sex addiction. With conditions such as hypersexual disorder or eating disorders, it is impossible to give up sex or food for life! These things are woven into the fabric of our beings as humans.
Therefore, the goal with long term sexual addiction recovery is to integrate sex into our lives in a healthier way. Here are a couple of tips that will help with sex addiction treatment.
Get rid of your triggers
If you continuously surround yourself with items that remind you about sex, it may be impossible to make progress in your treatment for sex addiction. Dispose or recycle your porn magazines, videos, pictures, and everything that may pose a temptation to you.
Furthermore, you should delete porn from your devices and clear your browser history of sites you visited in the past. You should also consider installing software that blocks pornography websites.
Change your circle of friends and associates
If the people around you are people who can cause you to suffer a relapse into your old ways, it may be best to seek new friends. For instance, your friends may want to visit sex shops or red-light districts. Instead, ask them to go elsewhere with you. If this does not work, it is best you stop hanging out with them.
Certain situations can trigger addictive behaviours. Therefore, you must try your best to avoid these behaviours. Also, if you have contacts of sex workers or former sexual partners, notify them of your commitment to getting better. Then, delete their contacts.
Replace sexual behaviours with healthy energy outlets
Next on tips for sex addiction treatment – pick up a new hobby. When you stop carrying out addictive sexual activities, you may find yourself with excess energy. It may help if you tried healthy activities such as exercise or other recreation.
If one activity is not stimulating enough, you can combine several or otherwise find another activity. Aside from acting as an energy outlet for you, these hobbies can also be a distraction for you.
Get a support system
Your close friends and family can be of massive help to you when you finally decide to seek help on how to overcome sex addiction. As you pull away from your addictive behaviours, you should move closer to your loved ones.
Your partner, best friend and family members, can support you when the going gets tough. More importantly, investing in the people around you will reduce the need to use sex as an escape mechanism.
Join a support group
Support groups are a critical part of the sex addiction treatment and recovery process. This is because they offer a platform to meet with people who have either gone through sex addiction or are experiencing it themselves.
Either way, they offer a wealth of experience you can learn from. Furthermore, you can also share some of your challenges to help others. Connecting with other patients is always a good idea.
Seek professional help
Finally, there is no substitute for the treatment you can get from an expert in sex addiction. Encouraging you to seek advice from a sex addiction specialist is probably one of the most vital tips for sex addiction treatment.
More often than not, sexual addiction is a result of underlying emotional or mental issues that may require therapy and counselling. So, you see, an expert is your best bet to gaining freedom from hypersexual disorder. Call +18557872424 today to speak with a sex addiction treatment professional.
In conclusion
Sex addiction is a potentially dangerous condition. Therefore, you must seek treatment as fast as possible.
We hope that our tips for sex addiction treatment have given you some insight into how you can overcome your hypersexual disorder. For more information, contact Addiction Rehab to speak to a certified therapist today!
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