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When Your Partner Is a Sex Addict

It’s been years since I ended a relationship with my sex addict boyfriend and I’ve still been unable to move forward with my life. I just don’t trust people anymore, or even feel like getting to know people. When I’m not sad, I just feel numb.

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Steve, 32 Jan 20, 2012
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Sex addiction is a way some people medicate their feelings and/or cope with their stresses to the degree that their sexual behavior becomes their major coping mechanism for stresses in their life. The individual often cannot stop this sexual behavior for any great length of time by themselves.

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Raymond, 33 Jan 20, 2012
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The sex addict spends a lot of time in the pursuit of his or her sexual behavior/fantasy or they may have a binge of sexual behaviors.

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Daniel, 34 Jan 20, 2012
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Many sex addicts desire anonymous encounters. Sex addiction has flourished with the Internet and the anonymity it offers. The altered state of grooming an anonymous person can be very addictive to a sexual addict so yes, these websites are used in some people's sexual addiction.

Eugene, 31 Jan 21, 2012
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Sex addiction is an obsessive relationship to sexual thoughts, fantasies or activities that an individual continues to engage in despite adverse consequences. These thoughts, fantasies or activities occupy a disproportionate amount of “psychic space,” resulting in an imbalance in the person’s overall functioning in important areas of life, such as work and marriage. Distress, shame and guilt about the behaviors erode the addict’s already weak self-esteem.

3 replies | Hide
Jerome, 35 Jan 21, 2012
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While the definition of sex addiction is the same as that of other addictions, sexual compulsion is set apart from other addictions in that sex involves our innermost unconscious wishes, needs, fantasies, fears and conflicts.

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Amy, 33 Jan 21, 2012
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Sometimes, it’s difficult to know whether someone close to you has an addiction. The addict might hide the addictive behavior or you might not know the warning signs or symptoms.

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Mildred, 32 Jan 21, 2012
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Here are some things to look for: Staying up late to watch television or surf the Web Looking at pornographic material such as magazines, books, videos and clothing catalogs Frequently isolating from spouses or partners, and not informing them of their whereabouts

Cynthia, 33 Jan 20, 2012
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IS THERE ANY WAY TO HELP OUR CHILDREN NOT BECOME SEXUALLY ADDICTED?

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Sean, 30 Jan 20, 2012
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Yes! Even though many of our adult male clients report that their fathers were sex addicts (porn, affairs, prostitutes etc.) they also report getting little to no proper sexual information to balance their sexual perspective. We have created two DVDs addressing healthy sexuality for teens. Born for War teaches young men practical tools to defeat the sexual landmines their generation faces and offers scriptural truths that empower young men to desire successfulness in the war thrust upon them. Princes Take Longer Than Frogs helps single women ages 15-30 successfully navigate through the season of dating and how to distinguish between a Prince and a Frog.

Maria, 34 Jan 20, 2012
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What if you suspect that your husband is cheating? In fact, I suspect that my husband could be a sex addict. Recently, I walked in on him while he was masturbating to porn. I never knew he watched porn--or masturbated. I found thousands of hidden porn files on his computer. I felt betrayed that he'd hidden this from me.

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Andrea, 30 Jan 20, 2012
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Humm - kind of a tough situation. Well he does exhibit many of the characteristics of a cheating man but then again you can't be certain unless you have proof. We certainly can say he does have a porn addiction that is controlling him to some extent. It is fairly common for men to spend time messing with porn so I wouldn't get too alarmed about that. Do all husbands masterbate? Not all but most probably do to some various degree. The one thing that most cheating men have a tough time is continuing to have a good sex life with their spouse. You said he wants it twice a day from you which usually is not something a cheating man would do. Usually cheating men get very distant from their spouses because of the disinterest or from the guilt. So he either isn't cheating or he doesn't have any guilt.

Denise, 31 Jan 20, 2012
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What to do from here? Well I certainly suggest you don't just sit there and do nothing. You really must learn if he is cheating. The easiest thing to do is go get some spyware for your computer. You can get a keylogger program and a web page logger which you can secretly install in your machine and it will send you an email report of all the keystrokes for that day and also send all the web sites that he visited. I know you can purchase these off the internet for about $50 and in your case that is a worthwhile expense. I am also guessing you could get this from a computer store but not sure. Make sure he doesn't know about these programs as if he figures it out he will change his computer habits. Also you should keep an eye on his cell phone records as most cheaters text or call each other for their hookups.

Shirley, 33 Jan 20, 2012
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Men are visual in the worst way. Just the sight of a pretty girl (and one smiling) gets our hormones going and that is natural. As a grown man I've never bought a porn magazine but those pictures have come up on my computer from e-mail advertising. Funny, I used to get alot of them and maybe the ISP has helped end much of that e-mail--hope so. If I got stuck on one of those pictures; you know where you want to turn away but just can't help it, I'd be going to bed sometime that day/[I meant night]. I'd say be there for him.

Margaret, 34 Jan 21, 2012
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Why can’t the person control his or her sexual behavior?

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Bruce, 31 Jan 21, 2012
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It’s important for you to know that your partner is not volitionally involved in these behaviors so you can begin to understand and, perhaps, forgive. Most addicts would stop if they could.

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Antonio, 30 Jan 21, 2012
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It’s been said that of all the addictions, sex is the most difficult to manage. This syndrome is a complex mixture of biological, psychological, cultural, and family-of-origin issues, the combination of which creates impulses and urges that are virtually impossible to resist.

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Andrea, 30 Jan 21, 2012
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Despite the fact that acting them out produces considerable long-term negative consequences, the addict simply cannot resist his impulses. Individuals who are highly disciplined, accomplished and able to direct the force of their will in other areas of life fall prey to sexual compulsion. More importantly, people who love and cherish their partners can still be enslaved by these irresistible urges.

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Ronald, 33 Jan 21, 2012
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From a biological standpoint, research has shown that certain formations in the right temporal lobe make certain individuals more prone to sexual arousability from birth. Whether such an individual becomes sexually compulsive or perverse then depends on the child’s home environment.

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Irene, 31 Jan 21, 2012
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What are the effects of sex addiction on the partner?

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Louis, 31 Jan 21, 2012
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Effects of sex addiction on the sex addict’s partner can be numerous, encompassing a wide range of emotions and reactive behaviors. The sexual codependent’s experience is similar to, but not thoroughly identical to, a codependent person in a relationship with a substance abuser. A

1 reply | Hide
Ronald, 33 Jan 21, 2012
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A codependent partner of a drug or alcohol addict, for example, may manage to understand and even sympathize with the significant other’s alcohol problem due to the lesser societal condemnation.

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