Outpatient Treatment of Sex and Love Addicts

Many treatment programs and professional training efforts have been developed in the past five years for sexual compulsiveness and love dependencies. This work includes a description of an intensive outpatient therapy program that is designed to treat the sexually addicted patient. Initially, these patients had been treated with individual psychotherapy and attendance at Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous meetings. While this approach seemed to work for some, many needed a more intensive therapeutic intervention to help them identify and maintain bottom line behaviors and to begin the recovery process from this difficult addiction.

A program was designed with the following elements: psychoeducational groups, same-sex group psychotherapy, and 12-Step meetings. Some of these educational sessions have covered: adult sexuality, self-esteem, communication skills, shame, depression, cross addictions, healthy relationships, the addiction cycle, and so on. In addition to lectures there are group and dyad/triad discussions, role playing, and psychodrama. This is followed by traditional group therapy, although groups are limited to the same sex. At the end of the intensive evening program, there is a meeting of Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) that is open to the public. This is the only book that addresses diagnostic, neurochemical, and treatment issues of sexual compulsivity in such depth.

ERIC GRIFFIN-SHELLEY is Attending Psychologist at Charter Fairmount Institute, Philadelphia, and maintains a private practice in psychotherapy. He is the author of Sex and Love: Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery (Praeger, 1991).