How PTSD Treatment Cured my Back Pain and More on the Mind-Body Connection

Women struggling with anorexia nervosa, are at a larger risk of developing the illness. Usually, it is due to the eating disorder which leads to developing issues with thyroid function. An eating disorder is something hazardous and can also lead to life-threatening situations. Starting from your hair to your toes, it seems to have an impact on every part of the body. You may happen to notice symptoms such as hair loss, brittle and dry nails, menstrual irregularities, tooth decay, acid reflux, cardiovascular issues and gastrointestinal issues. You may feel bloated or undergoing severe pain and compromised cardiovascular health and immune system. The blog shows how PTSD treatment can help to cure your health as well as mental issues. You need to have the want to get healthy and be better. Only you can take steps towards the improvement of your health.

3 Myths about Sex Addiction Treatment

Alexandra Katehakis, Senior Fellow at The Meadows, is one of the lead authors of an article titled, “Sex Addiction is NOT a ‘MYTH’ when Neuroscience Keeps the Score” featured in the January/February 2017 issue of The Therapist. The article is endorsed by several experts in the fields of trauma, addiction, and mental health including Dr. Claudia Black and Dr. Stefanie Carnes, both Senior Fellows at The Meadows; Dr. Jon Caldwell, Medical Director at The Meadows; and Dr. Monica Meyer, Clinical Director at Gentle Path at The Meadows.

In the article, Katehakis and her co-authors set out a convincing case for treating sex addiction as a chronic brain disease, much like other dependencies and process addictions. They also lay to rest many of the prevailing myths about the sex addiction model for treating compulsive sexual behaviors, pointing to evidence that the sex addiction theory offers neurologically-informed, sex-positive, and relationally-based therapeutic protocols.

Myth #1: Sex addiction treatment is a really just “reparative therapy.”

Reparative therapy (also known as conversion therapy) is a type of counseling that claims to change a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual. It has been widely discredited by mental health professionals and is illegal in several states.

Unfortunately, some therapists and counselors have misleadingly used the term “sex addiction” to lure clients into reparative therapy. Some also shame people who engage in what they see as non-conforming sexual behaviors. These practices are not considered ethical or appropriate within the sex addiction model of treatment.

Expert, credentialed, Certified Sex Addiction Therapists (CSATs) do not use, support, condone, or respect the destructive practice of reparative therapy; and, their aim is to help clients move beyond shame, not to intensify the shame they are often already feeling.

Individuals should not be classified as sex addicts based on their sexual orientation. Individuals of any sexual orientation may display symptoms of sexual addiction and be diagnosed based on self-reporting and a comprehensive assessment process conducted by a trained and knowledgeable sex addiction professional.

Myth #2: Sex addiction treatment shames people for enjoying nonconforming sexual behaviors.

Certified sex addiction professionals do not shame or scold individuals who struggle with sexual preoccupation and/or compulsivity or on the basis of their sexual preferences. The goal of sex addiction treatment is to guide clients toward a sexuality that feels right for them—a sexuality that is pleasurable, creative, and relational. Sexual compulsivity and/or preoccupation is marked by moderate to severe dissociation that is often accompanied by impulses that are destructive to the client’s sense of self and lead to feelings of dysphoria and isolation. According to the authors:

“CSATs are educated about alternative sexual lifestyles which include ‘nonconforming’ behaviors such as kink/fetishes, BDSM, or other practices. Only if a client presents with sexual behavior—alternative or ordinary—that troubles him or her are practices explored and assessed. More importantly, this investigation aims to measure the problematic nature, not of the sexual acts themselves, but of their compulsive use. Recovery from sex addiction never means ‘repairing’ erotic minorities from their sexual preferences.”

Sex addicts expend most of their energy replaying past traumatic sexual experiences and/or repetitively fantasizing about future ones. These preoccupations and impulses are often overwhelming and severely disrupt their professional and personal lives. The disorder has no resemblance to even the most robust, healthy sexual interest and behavior.

Myth #3: Sex addiction treatment is just another 12-step program.

Sex addiction therapists do not see the 12-step program as the be-all and end-all of treatment. 12-step programs are valuable in that they can help participants increase their relational skills and ability to connect with others through regular interaction with a caring group. But sex addiction therapy does not end with 12-step work.

The most effective treatment for sex addiction is based on a well-designed, multi-faceted, comprehensive plan that is tailored to the client’s goals. The treatment provider also must help the client to develop support structures—like a 12-step program—that facilitate long-term and meaningful recovery.

For example, at Gentle Path at The Meadows and Willow House at The Meadows, treatment plans focus on trauma resolution and include neurofeedback and neuriobiofeedback techniques, EMDR, experiential therapies, individual counseling, mindfulness practices, yoga, acupuncture and more, in addition to 12-step work.

It’s a holistic approach that treats the whole person, focusing on the mind, body, and emotions of the client. Its goal is to help clients resolve past trauma and discover—sometimes for the first time—pleasurable, self-nurturing, and relational sexuality.

What is Sex Addiction Treatment Really About?

The sex addiction model of treatment is not sex-negative, puritanical, or anti-pleasure. It also does not disapprove of or try to discourage sexual expression outside of narrowly-defined, normative, heterosexual sex. Sex addiction treatment, when conducted by well-trained, caring professionals, is sex-positive. Its goal is to help each person discover, delight in, and fully express his or her preferred sex life.

For more information on sex addiction treatment for yourself or your partner or spouse, please give us all call at 866-613-1826. Our Intake Specialists are happy to talk to you about whether one of our 5-day workshops, inpatient sex addiction treatment, or outpatient sex addiction treatment may be right for you.

Content Source 3 Myths about Sex Addiction Treatment

Couples Begin the Journey to Emotional Reconnection after Sexual Addiction Recovery

Discovery to Recovery Part 2: Emotional Impact and Emotional Restitution

Couples who have struggled with the enormity of damage caused by sexual addiction often feel hopeless and helpless. When they think of the long road from discovery of the problem to recovery and reconnection, it can seem daunting and endless. However, many couples do find help and they find recovery and they reconnect in ways that are beyond what they ever allowed themselves to believe possible.

Disclosure is the first step to relationship repair, however, it often feels more damaging than reparative. The honesty involved in disclosure and the willingness to hear what will undoubtedly be hurtful information about betrayal are important parts of healing for most couples. What happens after disclosure is just as important, if not more so. Emotional impact and emotional restitution work are the next steps supported by experts in the sex addiction field.

Emotional impact provides a chance for the partner to express the impact that the addict’s behaviors have had on them. Partners often do not feel truly heard and do not feel as though their emotions have been a priority in the addict’s recovery. Emotional impact work is the chance for the partner to really be empowered in having time that is solely dedicated to their emotions being genuinely heard.

Emotional restitution work provides a chance for the addict to demonstrate that they have heard and fully understand the emotional wreckage their behaviors have caused. Addicts have a chance to show that they are able to respond to the emotional needs of their partner. This goes beyond the making of amends, to a deeper emotional comprehension and an honoring of the betrayed partner.

These important recovery tasks need to happen in an environment that is safe, and in a way where both parties feel supported. Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows, in collaboration with Dr. Ken Adams, has designed a workshop that accomplishes these tasks and more. The Discovery to Recovery Intensive Series for Couples Healing, Part 2 focuses on the necessary work of emotional impact and emotional restitution. Here are excerpts of feedback provided about the workshop from two recent partner participants:

“We were supported with the entire process of identifying how we felt, really felt, as a result of our experiences. We were helped in finding our words to express what we hold inside and made to feel safe in sharing. Our hurt, our pain, our betrayal, our vulnerability was all validated; we were allowed and encouraged to feel. We were guided in the process through dialogue, ‘lectures,’ tools, and strategies on how to construct our impact letters to convey and prepare to share the message we needed our partner to hear, to feel, and to process. We were supported and prepared in being able to receive the response and emotional restitution letters of our partners. Most importantly, we were able to see each other as people, and as the partners we once fell in love with and shared so much with, while still being allowed to hang on to and own our pain.”

“I want to express my gratitude for the Discovery to Healing workshop you created at The Meadows. I struggled with whether or not I should attend - concerned that I was either going to be met with more roadblocks to healing or, worse, be further traumatized. But, instead what I found was a sacred space, one in which I could feel protected and safe enough to show up, be seen and get beyond my “go to” responses/feelings of anger, betrayal, and grief. And what I also found that was completely unexpected was the path back to me - the person that I had lost somewhere between the confusion and pain of sex addiction.”

“The care, wisdom and enormous commitment that went into creating this experience is obvious. I will forever be grateful.”

“I would very highly recommend this program to any and every couple going through the traumas of sexual addiction. The experience is equally valuable and necessary for both the addict and for the partner. The experience of a week-long intensive workshop is probably equivalent to a year’s worth of one hour 1-1 therapy visits in that you discover, understand, and work on so much in a short, intensive period of time”

This work requires embarking on a journey that makes no promises and has no guaranteed outcome. It requires courage, willingness, trust in the process, and faith in yourself. If this sounds like the next step for you and your relationship, contact our intake department at 1-866-453-7374 or you can find more information about the Discovery to Recovery workshops here.

Content Source Couples Begin the Journey to Emotional Reconnection after Sexual Addiction Recovery