For someone with a hypersexual disorder, day-to-day life is full of thoughts of sex and sexual fantasies. They may find it difficult to function without having sex, masturbating, or watching porn. But there are many hypersexual disorder treatment options to help people heal.
What is Hypersexuality?
Hypersexuality Disorder is compulsive sexual behaviors that occupy an excessive amount of your time. Also known as sex addiction, it’s a preoccupation with sex. This preoccupation can manifest as sexual fantasies, excessive porn watching, or compulsive urges and behaviors that harm your life. It affects your relationships, health, job, and other parts of your life.
Symptoms of sex addiction include:
- Masturbation
- Cybersex
- Multiple sexual partners
- Pornography use
- Risky sexual behaviors
- Paying for sex
- Recurring and uncontrollable sexual fantasies
- Difficulty establishing and maintaining a relationship with a romantic partner
- Continuing to engage in sexual behaviors after they cause harm
Hypersexual Disorder Affects More Than You Think
It may seem like hypersexual disorder only affects the person with the addiction, but that’s not the case. It can have dramatic consequences for the person with the disorder and their loved ones.
In some cases, a person with hypersexual disorder may have multiple sexual partners outside of their significant other. To have these other partners, this person may lie to their significant other, put their health at risk, or neglect their needs to pursue sex.
It’s also possible that a person with hypersexual disorder may risk their job by engaging in sexual activities or looking at pornography while at work. Acts of public sex, like engaging in sex at work, can also have legal consequences.
Possible Causes of Hypersexuality Disorder
There is no single cause for hypersexual disorder in everyone who has it. But, at Begin Again Institute, we believe adverse developmental experiences and unresolved trauma causes addictions.
Adverse developmental experiences can include many things. They tend to prevent the person who experienced them from feeling proper attunement, validation, and acceptance. They can also make it more difficult for the person to recognize and regulate emotions. Some common adverse development experiences include sexual abuse, divorce, poverty, death, rejection, abandonment, or death of loved ones.
Experiencing these types of traumas can cause the brain and nervous system to rewire itself. People who experience these traumas act or process stimuli differently. And to simply feel better, people who experience these traumatic things may seek experiences or substances that help them better regulate their brain function.
In the case of hypersexual disorder, a person may engage in sexual activity. It may be the first pleasurable experience they have. So, to achieve that level of pleasure again and to better regulate their brain function, that person may continually try to engage in sexual activity.
When a person uses sexual activity to cope with untreated trauma, they must first recognize and treat the trauma to stop these behaviors.
Hypersexual Disorder Treatments
There are many hypersexual disorder treatments available. If you’re ready to get help, discuss which treatment is right for you with your doctor or mental health professional.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for hypersexual disorder helps a person transform their thoughts into more effective coping methods. The person learns to think through their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors instead of relying on sexual activity to feel better. CBT gives people more control of their thoughts and actions.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy helps improve emotional self-regulation while educating the person on their condition and the reasons for their urges. In therapy, people may identify and change negative thought patterns and limiting beliefs or gain insight and self-awareness. This treatment can also help internalize self-regulating behaviors that the person may not have learned in childhood.
Group Therapy
In this setting, a group of people supports each other with the help of a mental health professional. In this environment, group members can see they aren’t alone while learning from each other’s experiences. It’s also a good setting for confronting excuses and denial accompanying hypersexual disorder.
Medication
Medication can help reduce compulsive behaviors or target specific hormones associated with hypersexual disorder. Doctors may prescribe antidepressants, mood stabilizers, hormone inhibitors, or even drugs prescribed for other addictions. You may also discover another mental health issue during treatment that requires medication.
Support Groups
Many people with hypersexual disorder attend support groups long after the treatment for their disorder ends. These groups help keep them from relapsing. Many of these programs follow a 12-step model. Attendees can come in person or online. Not all programs are the same, and it may take a while to find one that works for a particular person. Some of the more commonly known groups are Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sexual Recovery Anonymous, or Sexaholics.
How Begin Again Institute Can Help
When it comes to hypersexual disorder treatment, you don’t have to go it alone. It takes courage to ask for help. Begin Again Institute provides a shame-free, safe place to start healing.
Begin Again Institute offers a 14-Day Men’s Intensive program to help you stop destructive sexual behaviors and find the root cause of the problem. We also offer a myriad of customized treatments for hypersexuality disorder.
If you’re ready to learn more about our process or would like help dealing with hypersexual disorder, reach out today.
