Sexual Addiction

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the book "Contrary to Love" by Patrick Carnes, a well-known expert in the area of counseling and treating sexual addiction. The paper relates that the book provides an overview of sexual addiction for the layperson as well as the addict, and moves through the onset, growth and culmination of what Carnes calls "the addictive system." The paper also relates that the book discusses the role of family relationships and dysfunctions in contributing to an addict's problems. Additionally, the paper notes that in the final part of the book, Carnes moves into a thorough presentation and discussion of the process of recovery from sexual addiction.

From the Paper:

"Patrick Carnes is a well-known expert in the area of counseling and treating sexual addiction, and is the author of several books on the subject of addiction and recovery. His 1989 book Contrary to Love provides an overview of sexual addiction for the layperson as well as the addict, and also moves through the onset, growth and culmination of what he calls "the addictive system." The book also discusses the role of family relationships and dysfunctions in contributing to an addict's problems, including the role of co-addiction within the family. In the final part of the book, Carnes moves into a thorough presentation and discussion of the process of recovery from sexual addiction. Like all forms of recovery from addiction, the paradigm presented is one of gradual self-understanding and slow evolution over an extended period of the addict's life, rather than one of "quick fixes" or cures. Carnes concludes with an analysis of the assessment and intervention / treatment process from an institutional perspective.
"Carnes establishes sexual addiction as an illness early on (p. 4), then goes into a brief discussion of what he calls "models that don't work," including the model that sees addiction as a failure of morals (5) and models that attempt to interpret sexual addiction from various behavioral, cultural or environmental viewpoints (27-35), none of which he finds completely satisfactory. In a brief discussion of the biological model, he admits that some progress has been made in terms of treating sexual addicts (primarily criminal offenders) with drugs, but the two-page overview of this model is too brief to be considered complete, and Carnes is evidently not satisfied with this model either. One point which does arise as innovative and challenging is that Carnes notes that in many sexual crimes, alcohol or other drugs were found to have played a subsidiary or contributing role. The concept of "cross-addiction" thus comes into play, and is provocative if it can lead to new forms of treatment in the future."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Carnes, Patrick. Contrary to Love: Helping the Sexual Addict. Center City MN: Hazelden 1989.

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