[COLOR=red]Sexual Recovery - treatment and assessment- cont'd[/COLOR]
[COLOR=red]John, a 34 year old heterosexual married man, entered treatment for his sexually addictive behavior when his wife of nine years asked for a separation upon discovering that he had given her yet another venereal disease. His secretive sexual acting-out behaviors included weekly visits for "sensual massage" and conducting multiple anonymous sexual affairs with women he had met on the Internet. Although John had been in therapy with an analyst 2-3 times weekly for over two years and had disclosed the nature of his sexual acting-out at the beginning of that clinical relationship, the behaviors were not fully explored in therapy nor were they ever directly intervened upon. He was never encouraged to take any direct action to change his behaviors, nor were any steps taken to protect the health and safety of his wife. John stated that he felt lead to believe in therapy that "when he felt less depressed and had a better understanding of his poor self worth" the behaviors would begin to go away.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=red]Sexual addiction appears to be fairly common in the general adult population In his Landmark 1987 study of over 1500 identified sexual addicts Patrick Carnes, Ph.D. suggested that sexual addiction is present in as much as 8% of the adult male population, the number being around 3% for adult women. Sexual addiction as a clinical concern has clearly identifiable patterns of sexual behaviors, often starting in adolescence and childhood. The disorder is defined by the harmful consequences of the sexual behaviors themselves and the participants' inability to discontinue them.[/COLOR]
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