Sex Addiction: A New Diagnosis for an Old Behavior: Is Sex Addiction Treatment a Way to Escape the Consequences of Sexual Misbehavior or to Heal? [TianDayton.com]

"People do recover from both sexual addiction and sexual offending. I see it every day. They don’t do it alone, and healing does not come easily, but it’s possible for any person who wants it and is willing to put in the work. Usually, once the problematic behaviors are under control, these individuals begin working on the underlying issues (most often various forms of unresolved early-life trauma) that drove them into addiction or offending. That process is incredibly healing, and a great boost to long-term sobriety and recovery."

                                                   -- Dr. Stephanie Carnes, The Meadows, Arizona

With all of the recent press around high profile celebrities, considerable attention is being drawn to the rather volatile subject of sex addiction and sex offending, but the distinction between the two remains somewhat blurry. Readers appear to feel alternately vindicated, horrified and enraged. Many understand sex addiction as a serious problem that plagues someone they know, some are in hiding/denial or questioning themselves and still others are lashing out at the whole moral (or amoral) mess and directing their anger towards what they perceive to be the use of the diagnosis of “sex addiction” as a hiding place, a way for identified predators to avoid getting their just desserts for seriously aberrant behavior.

We obviously need some clarification so the logical place to start is at the beginning, Dr. Patrick Carnes, author of The Betrayal Bond and several other books on the subject, might be called the father of the sexual addiction movement. His daughter Dr. Stephanie Carnes has taken up the family mantel and carries on the extremely important work that her father began; so I have asked Dr. Stephanie Carnes of The Meadows in Arizona, to shed some light.

TD: Can you clarify what the difference is between sexual addiction and sex offending?

SC: First of all, it is critical to understand that sex addiction and sex offending are not the same thing.

• Sex offenders purposefully engage in nonconsensual sexual activity. A sex offense occurs when there is a nonconsensual sexual behavior with a victim. Most of these behaviors are illegal (with laws that vary by jurisdiction).

To read the rest of this blog post by Tian Dayton, go to: https://www.tiandayton.com/blog/sex-addictiona-new-diagnosis-for-an-old-behavior-is-sex-addiction-treatment-a-way-to-escape-the-consequences-of-sexual-misbehavior-or-to-heal.