Product Description: The concept of sex addiction took hold in the 1980s as a product of cultural anxiety. Yet, despite being essentially mythical, sex addiction has to be taken seriously as a phenomenon. Its success as a purported malady lay with its medicalization, both as a self-help movement in terms of self-diagnosis, and as a rapidly growing industry of therapists treating the new disease...read more

Sex and pornography addiction are growing problems that devastate the lives of partners as well as sufferers. Sex Addiction: The Partner's Perspective has been written to help partners and those who care about them to survive the shock of discovering their partner is a sex addict and to help them make decisions about the future of their relationships and their lives. First and foremost, it is a practical book, full of facts, and self help exercises to give partners a much needed sense of stability and control. Like its sister book, Understanding and Treating Sex Addiction, it includes case examples and survey results revealing the reality of life for partners of sex addicts. Sex Addiction: The Partner's Perspective is divided into three parts. Part I explores the myths surrounding sex addiction and provides up to date information about what sex addiction is and what causes it before moving on to explain why the discovery hurts partners so much. Part II is about partners’ needs and includes self-help exercises and strategies to help partners regain stability, rebuild self-esteem and consider their future. The controversial topic of co-dependency is also explored with guidance on how to identify it, avoid it and overcome it. Part III focuses on the couple relationship starting with the difficult decision of whether to stay or leave. Whatever the decision, partners will then find help and support for rebuilding trust and reclaiming their sexuality. This book has been written to help partners not only survive, but to grow stronger and move on with their lives – whether alone, or in their relationship. Readers will find revealing statistics and real life stories shared by partners who kindly took part in the first UK survey of sex addiction partners. This book will this book be a valuable guide for partners, but also for the therapists who seek to support them on their journey of recovery.

The media today is filled with powerful men in trouble for their sexual behaviors, and invariably, they are diagnosed as sexual addicts. Once, these behaviors were considered a moral failing, but now they are viewed as evidence of a fictitious disease, that of "sexual addiction." The concept of sexual addiction is a controversial one because it is based on poor research and subjective moral judgments. Despite claims to the contrary, sex addiction is not a medically or scientifically accepted diagnosis. Sex addiction is a belief system, supported by faith, conviction and religious principles, that represents an attack on sexuality. Labeling these behaviors as sex addiction asserts a false, dangerous myth that undermines personal responsibility. Not only does this supposed epidemic of sex addiction mislabel male sexuality as dangerous and unhealthy, but it destroys our ability to hold people accountable for their behaviors. By labeling males as weak and powerless before the onslaught of desire and the churning tide of lust, we take away those things that men should live up to: personal responsibility; integrity; self-control; independence; accountability; self-motivation; honor; respect for self and others. In The Myth of Sex Addiction, Dr. David Ley presents the cultural history, moral judgments and junk science underlying this alleged disorder. He exposes the subjective values embedded in the concept, as well as the significant economic factors that drive the label of sex addiction in clinical practice and the popular media. Ley outlines how this label represents a social attack on many forms of sexuality--male sexuality in particular--as well as presenting the difficulty this label creates in holding people responsible for their sexual behaviors. Going against current assumptions and trends, Ley debunks the idea that sex addiction is real. Instead, he suggests that the high-sex behaviors of some men is something that has been tacitly condoned for countless years and is only now labeled as a disorder as men are being held accountable to the same rules that have been applied to women. He suggests we should expect men to take responsibility for sexual choices, rather than supporting an approach that labels male sexual desire as a "demonic force" that must be resisted, feared, treated, and exorcised.

Product Description: Sex addiction is on the increase - in the media as well as in the therapy room. But while more and more people seek help for their compulsive sexual behaviours, there is still confusion and debate about whether the condition even exists...read more

'Narrative of his successful fight to stay in recovery and stop acting out sexually helps the reader understand the power of sex and love addiction and why addicts (clergy, politicians, teachers, etc.) throw away their livelihoods, reputations, marriages, and emotional, physical, and spiritual well being by engaging in illegal and abhorrent behavior. He also shows how the prevalence of sex throughout our society, including the Internet may be putting many more of us at risk'--Provided by publisher.

Product Description: Couples speak out on sex addiction. This book is based on surveys of many men and women who are putting back their relationship or marriage in the aftermath of sex addiction problems. This classic is now updated and expanded, with new material on cybersex addiction and on how to best handle disclosure of the compulsive sexual behavior to partner and children...read more

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An expert on addiction and recovery outlines how to identify a sexual addict, recognize the ways others may unwittingly become complicit or codependent, and change the behavior patterns that support the addiction.