From celebrity sex addicts to everyday people, thousands struggle with sex addiction. Sex addiction refers to the compulsive need to perform sexual acts to achieve the kind of fix or high that a person with substance use disorder gets from drinking or using drugs. Sex addiction can lead to health complications, relationship problems, and financial issues. The onset of addiction to sex doesn’t become obvious until the person’s behavior begins to take over their life. Although this can be considered a chronic illness like that of drug addiction, fortunately, a person can recover from this type of addiction and maintain healthy relationships. Our luxury rehab in Florida is sharing some relapse prevention skills for sex addicts in recovery that can help you or a loved one live a healthy and balanced life.
Tips for Sex Addiction Relapse Prevention
Defining sex addiction relapse can be difficult, considering that sex is an important aspect of healthy relationships. A relapse in recovery from sex addiction can describe the individual’s return to sexual behaviors that interrupted or negatively impacted their lives. Generally, addiction is the inability to stop doing something even when it negatively affects you. A person in recovery from sex addiction has relapsed when their thoughts and actions return to being solely focused on sexual behaviors. Relapse in any form of addiction can be heartbreaking. Often, many individuals who relapse in sex addiction recovery face struggles with their spouses and families as a result. Thankfully, there are ways to avoid this. We’re sharing five simple relapse prevention skills for sex addicts in recovery.
Identify Unhealthy Rituals or Habits
Addictive behavioral patterns can be challenging to break. In order to develop a better routine, you have to recognize the rituals or habits that contributed to your sex addiction in the past. For example, maybe the internet was a tool you used for engaging in sexual behaviors. You may have developed a routine where you went online at a certain time of the day. Recognizing these patterns will allow you to develop relevant and effective relapse prevention skills for sex addiction.
Limit Your Screen Time
As previously mentioned, the internet is a common tool used by sex addicts to get their fix. A great way to prevent relapse as a sex addict in recovery is to limit your screen time, and there are ways to limit the amount of time you have to use the internet and apps on smartphones. You can also block specific websites on your computer that you may have frequented during active addiction. Ask your spouse, a close friend, or an immediate family member to keep you accountable by not allowing you access to passwords for locked apps and devices that may otherwise be a temptation.
Try to Stay Single in Your First Year “Sober”
Unless you’re married or are currently in a relationship, try to stay single, at least for the first year of your recovery from sex addiction. Sex is bound to occur in any romantic relationship you have with someone, so jumping into a relationship your first year “sober” or abstinent can be a huge temptation. While sex addiction recovery doesn’t mean you have to be celibate for the rest of your life, it’s important to give yourself time to develop healthy coping strategies that allow you to maintain a healthy sexual relationship with another person. Give yourself at least a year of developing relapse prevention skills.
Regularly Attend Support Groups
Patients who receive sex addiction treatment at Seaside Palm Beach are encouraged to attend regular support groups at our center after they’ve completed their programs. These groups offer peer support, and a sense of community recovering addicts can fall back on during difficult times. Most recovering addicts reach a point in their journey where they think they can do everything on their own; however, isolating yourself from the recovery community and others who can offer you support is dangerous. Staying connected with peers and recovery sponsors helps to keep you accountable and offers constant reminders of your goals. Our high-end rehab in Florida offers alumni programs for patients who have received drug, gambling, or sex addiction treatment with us.
Don’t Ignore your Emotions
It’s common for recovering addicts to avoid expressing their struggles due to shame or pride. Feeling embarrassed about your struggles with sex addiction is understandable. There’s a lot of stigma surrounding this disorder, and many people lack the proper knowledge on how debilitating and serious it is. Others in recovery may avoid speaking about their struggles because they’ve convinced themselves they can handle them on their own. While both scenarios are understandable, neither of them is healthy. The simplest of all the relapse prevention skills for sex addicts in recovery is to talk about their emotions. Bottling things up only perpetuates isolation and even secretive behavior. Not only is talking about your feelings healthy, but it also puts your loved ones on guard so they can help you and keep you accountable.
Whether you’re battling drug abuse, alcoholism, compulsive gambling, or sex addiction, we can help. Call Seaside now at 561-677-9374 for more information about our luxury addiction programs in Florida.
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