Sex Addiction: Overcoming Barriers to Treatment

If you’re experiencing sex addiction, you’ve probably felt shame, guilt, and fear. It may have been difficult to admit it to yourself and others. It’s a taboo topic that is often stigmatized, even more than other addictions. You may have thought, “I can overcome it on my own,” “It’s not serious enough for treatment,” or “Will treatment even help me?”

Many people struggle to heal from sex addiction by themselves, but it’s unlikely to go away or get better on its own. Without support, the addiction will continue to escalate. But once you decide to take that step into sex addiction treatment, you may still find that many barriers to treatment exist for those seeking help. 

At Begin Again Institute, we offer various treatment options so you can overcome these barriers and get the healing you need.

Sex Addiction and Its Impact

Sex addiction is an intimacy disorder that causes you to compulsively and obsessively think about or engage in sex. It consumes your life, causes emotional and physical distress, and can negatively impact your relationships, health, and finances. 

Signs and symptoms of sex addiction include:

• Having obsessive sexual thoughts
• Feeling ashamed of your desires/actions
• Prioritizing sex over hobbies, responsibilities, or social interactions
• Engaging in high-risk sexual activities
• Hiding sexual behaviors
• Ignoring the negative impact of your actions on yourself and others
• Betraying your partner
• Attempting but failing to stop

Sex addiction hurts you and the people around you. It makes you feel out of control. You’re unable to regulate your symptoms, so you keep secrets, lash out at others, or experience other major behavior changes. 

Relationships often suffer when one person is experiencing sex addiction. There can be dishonesty and infidelity that creates distrust in your relationship. Lying about activities you’re engaging in, who you see, or what you’re thinking about will make your partner feel insecure and disrespected.

Your health also can suffer from sex addiction. Often, people engage in high-risk sexual activities to get their “fix.” This can include having unprotected sex with multiple partners or engaging in illegal sexual activity, like hiring a sex worker. 

Sex addiction also affects your finances. Spending money on sex takes priority over responsibilities such as bills and groceries. All of your time and energy revolves around sexual thoughts or activity, so you struggle to keep up with your job duties. 

Sex addiction becomes all-consuming, which is why you often need professional intervention.

Understanding Barriers to Sex Addiction Treatment

When you consider seeking treatment, you may find there are hurdles to overcome first. 

Barriers to sex addiction treatment include:

• Stigma. Social attitudes toward sex addiction can lean negative. Some people might assume those experiencing sex addiction are sleazy, dangerous, lack self-control, or use it as an excuse. These stereotypes are harmful and untrue, but for many people experiencing sex addiction, these stigmas are pervasive. They can make a person believe they don’t deserve treatment.
• Fear of Judgment and Shame. Admitting to sex addiction is vulnerable. You believe those around you will think you’re weak or a failure. But asking for help is brave, and sex addiction doesn’t equate to moral failure. While you may experience different levels of shame, some of it can be toxic. Healthy shame observes that you made mistakes, and that you can recover from those mistakes. Toxic shame is when you take on that shame as your identity and feel that you are the mistake or something is wrong with you. It can stall your healing process if you can’t move past the shame.
• Lack of Awareness and Understanding of Sex Addiction. Sex addiction can feel isolating. You may not realize that others are in the same boat as you: 6% to 8% of American adults experience sex addiction. You can’t heal from what you don’t know. Recovery starts with recognizing and understanding the causes of sex addiction.
• Lack of Access to or Understanding of Treatment. Many people don’t realize the existence of treatment facilities specifically for sex addiction. However, even if you’re aware they exist, you may not live near one or have the financial ability to pay for treatment.

Strategies for Overcoming Barriers to Treatment

The first step to overcoming barriers to treatment is knowing that you aren’t alone. Many others experience sex addiction and have walked the same path as you. Fear and shame are understandable, but don’t let them keep you from getting the help you need and deserve. 

To heal from sex addiction, you must first understand how sex addiction develops. It often stems from unresolved trauma. When you haven’t healed from the trauma, you can develop adverse coping mechanisms. Many people turn to sex because of the easy access to hits of dopamine. The quick burst of pleasure gives you temporary relief from your emotions.

Sex addiction is an illness, not a personality flaw. It’s a health condition that impacts your mind and body, altering your emotions, thinking, and behavior. You have an intimacy disorder derived from a fear of abandonment or rejection, and you may struggle to form or maintain authentic and intimate relationships with others. It’s common for mental illness and addiction to overlap. Many people turn to addictive behaviors, like sex, to cope with the symptoms of an underlying mental health concern. That means you have to heal from the root cause of the addiction to stop negative behaviors. That root cause often is emotional trauma.

By recognizing any harmful behaviors, habits, or triggers, you can stop them and find healthy replacement habits. The more intentional you are about your actions, the more likely you are to achieve lasting recovery.

Healing From Sex Addiction With Begin Again Institute

At Begin Again Institute, we approach treatment with a trauma-informed lens because we recognize that only treating the symptoms of sex addiction doesn’t heal you long term. Through individual and group therapy, we address the underlying trauma and its neurological impact. We walk you through the emotional, psychological, and physical triggers that make you turn to sexual activity as a coping mechanism. And we help you learn better ways to deal with those emotions.

Treatment approaches include:

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy. CBT involves adjusting thoughts, emotions, and actions to identify and manage triggers for sexual behavior. This evidence-based approach teaches mood management, coping skills, and how to eliminate false beliefs and insecurities.
• Brainspotting. A powerful treatment method that locates points in the visual field that bypass the “thinking brain” and access the “reactive brain,” helping to resolve unprocessed trauma.
• Individual Therapy. Working through unresolved trauma often requires professional help to guide you through the process safely. In therapy sessions, a mental health professional can help you unlock the root of the trauma, unlearn negative behaviors, and establish healthy coping mechanisms.
• Group Therapy. Sex addiction can feel isolating, but you’re not alone. Group therapy allows you to meet with others experiencing sex addiction, share experiences, find accountability partners, and form meaningful friendships.

Sex addiction treatment requires compassion and understanding. That’s why we approach all treatment judgment-free. We tailor your therapy sessions to your unique needs and experiences, reducing the likelihood of relapse in the future. 

Overcome Fear at Begin Again Institute 

Accessing treatment for sex addiction may come with hurdles, but they're important to overcome for lifelong healing. If you’ve been struggling to control your sex addiction, professional intervention is likely the next step.

You don’t have to go through sex addiction alone. Our team of Certified Sex Addiction Therapists are ready to guide you toward healing. Through our range of treatment programs, you’ll get a running start toward recovery.

The first barrier to overcome is asking for help. Take the first step by giving us a call today and experience the change you need.