Download or read book Letters from a Sex Addict written by Wendy Conquest and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-04-19 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of letters that reveal the raw and intimate details of the life of a sex addict. It depicts a journey that starts at a turning point: Getting caught! Moving from pure denial through the recovery process to acceptance and beyond. A must-read for anyone cheating or being cheated on.

Download or read book Letters to a Sex Addict written by Wendy Conquest and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2013-09-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sudden changes in routine, bizarre and inexplicable shifts in behavior, in the bedroom and out. Emotional distance and excuses for lack of connection. These are all telltale signs that something is very, very wrong. For a sex addict's spouse or partner, these changes and fluctuations are upsetting and crazy making, leading to thoughts that they have done something wrong, aren't good enough or that there is some other reason for the inconsistent, bewildering behavior. For many, sex or porn addiction is farthest from their minds or too scary to consider. Inspired by a career of working with sex addicts and their partners/spouses, Wendy Conquest's collection of letters fuses fiction and nonfiction to astounding results. Diving deeply into the psyches of those whose lives are shattered by betrayal and the resultant feelings of hurt, rage, resentment and despair, this book directly mirrors a partner's experiences from multiple perspectives. Each letter explores a different facet of the relationship dynamic, the addict's illness, and the partner's thoughts and feelings throughout all the stages of this devastating experience. This powerful book is for men and women experiencing the trauma of infidelity caused by their partner's sexual addiction and the fallout that occurs. This informative book was written for anyone needing to understand what is happening to them, that they are not alone, that there is help and that there is recovery. In addition, this book is for addicts to better understand what is happening for their partner, why healing is taking so long and what they can do to help their spouse. Therapists, ministers, counselors, pastors and doctors will be better able to relate to people whose partners are unfaithful. This book is a must read for anyone doing couples work when pornography use or affairs are present to assess how much damage has occurred for the spouse and the relationship. These insightful, gut-wrenching, yet hopeful letters create a well-rounded picture that delivers clarity, understanding and a path of healing. Letters to a Sex Addict: The Journey Through Grief and Betrayal will help those affected to regain sanity and clarity and peace of mind.

Download or read book A House Interrupted written by Maurita Corcoron and published by eBookIt.com. This book was released on 2012-07-10 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A can't-put-it-down read about a wife's devastating discovery that her physician husband is a sex addict Maurita Corcoran's world collapsed when she learned that her husband of fourteen years, a successful physician, was a sex addict. She had never even heard of a "sex addict," but she was suddenly submerged in a world of painful choices about how to rebuild a life for herself and her four children. This is an absorbing memoir about forgiveness, resilience, and hope. With the growing public awareness of how pervasive sex addiction has become in our culture, this memoir answers the questions that spouses must face in building lives of self-respect and confidence. Filled with actual raw journal entries, this first-hand account will help any spouse or partner who needs to know more about this devastating addictive disease. This engaging memoir proves that women can emerge from the betrayal, anger, and heartache to become authentically peaceful and resilient sources of support to other women. Maurita Corcoran and her husband have been in recovery for more than a dozen years. They have raised four children, and they remain happily married.

Download or read book Getting Off written by Erica Garza and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-01-09 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Erica Garza has written a riveting, can’t-look-away memoir of a life lived hardcore…In an era when predatory male sexual behavior has finally become a topic of urgent national discourse…Getting Off makes for a wild, timely read” (Elle). A fixation on porn and orgasm, strings of failed relationships and serial hook-ups with strangers, inevitable blackouts to blunt the shame—these are not things we often hear women share publicly, and not with the candor, eloquence, and introspection Erica Garza brings to Getting Off. What sets this courageous and riveting account apart from your typical misery memoir is the absence of any precipitating trauma beyond the garden variety of hurt we’ve all had to endure in simply becoming a person—reckoning with family, learning to be social, integrating what it means to be sexual. Whatever tenor of violence or abuse Erica’s life took on through her behavior was of her own making, fueled by fear, guilt, self-loathing, self-pity, loneliness, and the hopelessness those feelings brought on as she runs from one side of the world to the other in an effort to break her habits—from East Los Angeles to Hawaii and Southeast Asia, through the brothels of Bangkok and the yoga studios of Bali to disappointing stabs at therapy and twelve-steps back home. In these remarkable pages, Garza draws an evocative, studied portrait of the anxiety that fuels her obsessions, as well as the exhilaration and hope she begins to feel when she suspects she might be free of them. Getting Off offers a brave and necessary voice to our evolving conversations about addiction and the impact that internet culture has had on us all—“a profoundly genuine, gripping story that any reader can appreciate” (Vice). “In reading Garza’s insight into her own experiences, we better understand ourselves” (The New York Times Book Review).

Download or read book Your Sexually Addicted Spouse written by Barbara Steffens and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-07 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sexual addiction and compulsive sexual behavior often steal a person's ability to achieve emotional or sexual intimacy. Both addicts and their partners may suffer in isolation, ashamed and afraid, not knowing where to turn for help. Your Sexually Addicted Spouse shatters that stigma and shame and provides understanding and empathy for the addict and his or her spouse. Barbara Steffens' groundbreaking research was the first to show that partners are not codependents but post-traumatic stress victims, while Marsha Means' personal experience provides insights, strategies, and critical steps to recognize, deal with, and heal partners of sexually addicted relationships. Firsthand accounts and stories reveal the impact of this addiction on survivors' lives. Chapters end with "On a Personal Note" questions and propose new paths that lead from trauma to empowerment, health, and hope. Useful appendices list health and mental health care providers and clergy. Barbara Steffens, PhD, LPCC, CCPS, CPC specializes in helping women recover from sexual betrayal and is a sought-after speaker and presenter on special issues related to partners of sexual addicts. She was the founding President of the Association for Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists, an organization that provides training and certification of Clinical Partner Specialists and Partner Trauma Coaches. She has counseled and coached betrayed spouses/partners for over twenty years and her research on trauma after betrayal has changed the field. Barbara also consults with other professionals and provides training for those who want to help partners heal. Marsha Means, MA, founder and director of A Circle of Joy Ministries, is trained as a Marriage and Family Therapist, and writes and speaks on the topic of betrayal trauma and sex addiction. Her work is based on both her personal and professional experience. She has written several books on the topic. Marsha and her team of coaches offer individual and group support for partners of sex addicts. In addition, Marsha facilitates couple's groups to help them learn to heal the damage done by betrayal trauma.

Download or read book Ashamed No More written by T. C. Ryan and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2012-06-28 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are some things we just don't talk about. Things like sex, particularly when our sexuality is a matter of personal struggle. Things like the vulnerabilities of our pastors, who must maintain a façade not merely of respectability but of moral and psychological superiority. We don't talk about things that make us feel insecure, that make us feel unsettled. But the nature of spiritual growth, even the story of Christian faith, is a matter of being unsettled from the comfortable compromises we've made and set on a course together toward wholeness and mutually supportive community. Pastor T. C. Ryan takes us on an unsettling journey through his lifelong struggle with sexual addiction, one that predated and pervaded his pastoral ministry—one which for far too long he faced in secrecy and isolation, separated from the brothers and sisters in Christ who were called to bear one another's burdens. Ashamed No More doesn't cast blame or argue for looser moral standards. It does, however, call us to the unsettling ministry that a God who is love calls us to—the unsettling grace that is the audacious gospel of Christ.

Download or read book Letters from Women who Love Too Much written by Robin Norwood and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Norwood's first book she explored relationship addiction. Now she respondsto readers' questions and reveals the key to recovery. Norwood seems to knowthe value of asking the right questions . . . Eureka! A self-help book with asense of perspective.--San Francisco Chronicle.

Download or read book My Booky Wook written by Russell Brand and published by Hodder & Stoughton. This book was released on 2008-11-13 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Russell Brand grew up in Essex. His father left when he was three months old, he was bulimic at 12 and left school at 16 to study at the Italia Conti stage school. There, he began drinking heavily and taking drugs. He regularly visited prostitutes in Soho, began cutting himself, took drugs on stage during his stand-up shows, and even set himself on fire while on crack cocaine. He has been arrested 11 times and fired from 3 different jobs - including from XFM and MTV - and he claims to have slept with over 2,000 women. In 2003 Russell was told that he would be in prison, in a mental hospital or dead within six months unless he went in to rehab. He has now been clean for three years. In 2006 his presenting career took off, and he hosted the NME awards as well as his own MTV show, 1 Leicester Square, plus Big Brother's Big Mouth on Channel 4. His UK stand-up tour was sold out and his BBC Radio 6 show became a cult phenomenon, the second most popular podcast of the year after Ricky Gervais. He was awarded Time Out's Stand Up Comedian of the Year and won Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards. In 2007 Russell hosted both the Brit Awards and Comic Relief, and continued to front Big Brother's Big Mouth. His BBC2 radio podcast became the UK's most popular. Russell writes a weekly football column in the Guardian and is the patron of Focus 12, a charity helping people with alcohol and substance misuse. He also hosts a podcast, Under the Skin, in which he delves below the surface of modern society.

Download or read book Help Her Heal written by Carol Juergensen Sheets and published by . This book was released on 2019-04-05 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A workbook for sex addicts in recovery, or for those looking into beginning recovery from sex addiction.

Download or read book Desire written by Susan Cheever and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We've all felt the giddy flutter of excitement when our new lover walks into the room. Waited by the phone, changed our plans...But are we in love, or is there something darker at work? In Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction, Susan Cheever explores the shifting boundaries between the feelings of passion and addiction, desire and need, and she raises provocative and important questions about who we love and why. Elegantly written and thoughtfully composed, Cheever's book combines unsparing and intimate memoir, interviews and stories, hard science and psychology to explore the difference between falling in love and falling prey to an addiction. Part one defines what addiction is and how it works -- the obsession, the betrayals, the broken promises to oneself and others. Part two explores the possible causes of addiction -- is it nature or nurture, a permanent condition or a temporary derangement? Part three considers what we can do about it, including a provocative suggestion about how we describe and treat addiction, and a look at the importance of community and storytelling. In the end, there are no easy answers. "A straight look about some crooked feelings," Desire shows us the difference between the addiction that cripples our emotions, and healthy, empowering love that enhances our lives.

Download or read book America Anonymous written by Benoit Denizet-Lewis and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-01-06 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America Anonymous is the unforgettable story of eight men and women from around the country -- including a grandmother, a college student, a bodybuilder, and a housewife -- struggling with addictions. For nearly three years, acclaimed journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis immersed himself in their lives as they battled drug and alcohol abuse, overeating, and compulsive gambling and sexuality. Alternating with their stories is Denizet-Lewis's candid account of his own recovery from sexual addiction and his compelling examination of our culture of addiction, where we obsessively search for new and innovative ways to escape the reality of the present moment and make ourselves feel "better." Addiction is arguably this country's biggest public-health crisis, triggering and exacerbating many of our most pressing social problems (crime, poverty, skyrocketing health-care costs, and childhood abuse and neglect). But while cancer and AIDS survivors have taken to the streets -- and to the halls of Congress -- demanding to be counted, millions of addicts with successful long-term recovery talk only to each other in the confines of anonymous Twelve Step meetings. (A notable exception is the addicted celebrity, who often enters and exits rehab with great fanfare.) Through the riveting stories of Americans in various stages of recovery and relapse, Denizet-Lewis shines a spotlight on our most misunderstood health problem (is addiction a brain disease? A spiritual malady? A moral failing?) and breaks through the shame and denial that still shape our cultural understanding of it -- and hamper our ability to treat it. Are Americans more addicted than people in other countries, or does it just seem that way? Can food or sex be as addictive as alcohol and drugs? And will we ever be able to treat addiction with a pill? These are just a few of the questions Denizet-Lewis explores during his remarkable journey inside the lives of men and women struggling to become, or stay, sober. As the addicts in this book stumble, fall, and try again to make a different and better life, Denizet-Lewis records their struggles -- and his own -- with honesty and empathy.

Download or read book The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments written by Scott Weeman and published by Ave Maria Press. This book was released on 2017-11-10 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of a 2018 Catholic Press Association Award: Sacraments. (Second Place). In the first book to directly integrate the Twelve Steps with the practice of Catholicism, Scott Weeman, founder and director of Catholic in Recovery, pairs his personal story with compassionate straight talk to show Catholics how to bridge the commonly felt gap between the Higher Power of twelve-step programs and the merciful God that he rediscovered in the heart of the sacraments. Weeman entered sobriety from alcohol and drugs on October 10, 2011, and he's made it his full-time ministry to help others who struggle with various types of addiction to find spiritual wholeness through Catholic in Recovery, an organization he founded and directs. In The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments, Weeman candidly tackles the struggle he and other addicts have with getting to know intimately the unnamed Higher Power of recovery. He shares stories of his compulsion to find a personal relationship with God and how his tentative steps back to the Catholic Church opened new doors of healing and brought him surprising joy as he came to know Christ in the sacraments. Catholics in recovery and those moving toward it, as well as the people who love them will recognize Weeman's story and his spiritual struggle to personally encounter God. He tells us how: Baptism helps you admit powerlessness over an unmanageable problem, face your desperate need for God, and choose to believe in and submit to God’s mercy. Reconciliation affirms and strengthens the hard work of examining your life, admitting wrongs, and making amends. The Eucharist provides ongoing sustenance and draws you to the healing power of Christ. The graces of Confirmation strengthen each person to keep moving forward and to share the good news of recovery and new life in Christ. Weeman's words are boldly challenging and brimming with compassion and through them you will discover inspiration, hope, sage advice, and refreshingly practical help.

Download or read book Naked in Public written by Staci L Sprout and published by . This book was released on 2015-11-05 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IN THIS INTENSELY PERSONAL MEMOIR, Staci Sprout offers a vulnerable account of her recovery journey from the painful world of sexual intrigue and addiction. She was an honors student and cheerleader, and later a talented young social worker, but her life had a dark twist even her closest friends didn't suspect. Childhood sexual abuse and exposure to pornography had ignited a drive to be sexual that eventually threatened to unravel her sanity and her life. Desperate for relief, she tried psychotherapy, hypnotism, bodywork, and traditional and pagan spirituality. Nothing helped until a near-death experience became a turning point and she found her way into the rooms of 12-Step recovery for sex addiction. Staci's story reveals what can happen when a woman refuses to give up in her fight for dignity and freedom. The wisdom that emerges will be both a roadmap and inspiration for anyone, male or female, who struggles with sexual addiction - and to their loved ones.

Download or read book The Myth of Sex Addiction written by David J. Ley and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-07-10 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The media today is filled with powerful men in trouble for their sexual behaviors, and invariably, they are diagnosed as sexual addicts. Since Adam first hid his nakedness from God and pointed the finger at Eve, men have struggled to take responsibility for their sexuality. Over the past three decades, these behaviors have come to reflect not a moral failing, but instead, evidence of an ill-defined disease, that of "sexual addiction." The concept of sexual addiction is a controversial one because it is based on questionable research and subjective moral judgments. Labeling these behaviors as sex addiction asserts a false, dangerous myth that undermines personal responsibility. Not only does this epidemic of sex addiction excuses mislabel male sexuality as dangerous and unhealthy, but it destroys our ability to hold people accountable for their behaviors. By labeling males as weak and powerless before the onslaught and churning tide of lust, we take away those things that men should live up to: personal responsibility; integrity; self-control; independence; accountability; self-motivation; honor; respect for self and others. In The Myth of Sex Addiction, Ley presents the history and questionable science underlying this alleged disorder, exposing the moral and cultural judgments that are embedded in the concept, as well as the significant economic factors that drive the label of sex addiction in clinical practice and the popular media. Ley outlines how this label represents a social attack on many forms of sexuality--male sexuality in particular--as well as presenting the difficulty this label creates in holding people responsible for their sexual behaviors. Going against current assumptions and trends, Ley debunks the idea that sex addiction is real, or at least that it is as widespread as it appears to be. Instead, he suggests that the high-sex behaviors of some men is something that has been tacitly condoned for countless years and is only now labeled as a disorder as men are being held accountable to the same rules that have been applied to women. He suggests we should expect men to take responsibility for sexual choices, rather than supporting an approach that labels male sexual desire as a "demonic force" that must be resisted, feared, treated, and exorcised.

Download or read book Recovery written by Russell Brand and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to all kinds of addiction from a star who has struggled with heroin, alcohol, sex, fame, food and eBay, that will help addicts and their loved ones make the first steps into recovery “This manual for self-realization comes not from a mountain but from the mud...My qualification is not that I am better than you but I am worse.” —Russell Brand With a rare mix of honesty, humor, and compassion, comedian and movie star Russell Brand mines his own wild story and shares the advice and wisdom he has gained through his fourteen years of recovery. Brand speaks to those suffering along the full spectrum of addiction—from drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar addictions to addictions to work, stress, bad relationships, digital media, and fame. Brand understands that addiction can take many shapes and sizes and how the process of staying clean, sane, and unhooked is a daily activity. He believes that the question is not “Why are you addicted?” but "What pain is your addiction masking? Why are you running—into the wrong job, the wrong life, the wrong person’s arms?" Russell has been in all the twelve-step fellowships going, he’s started his own men’s group, he’s a therapy regular and a practiced yogi—and while he’s worked on this material as part of his comedy and previous bestsellers, he’s never before shared the tools that really took him out of it, that keep him clean and clear. Here he provides not only a recovery plan, but an attempt to make sense of the ailing world.

Download or read book Worthy of Her Trust written by Stephen Arterburn and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2014-08-19 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You Can Win Her Back Few challenges in life are as difficult as regaining a wife’s trust—and few are as ultimately worthwhile. Trust can be rebuilt in your marriage! With patient, loving, self-sacrificing effort, it’s possible that one day your wife will risk her heart with you again. And she may even have more respect and love for you than before. In Worthy of Her Trust, Jason Martinkus relates how he repaired his own marriage after revelations of sexual addiction. Along with Stephen Arterburn, Jason offers exercises and tools rooted in counseling principles to help your marriage begin again. This comprehensive guide discusses: · How to be truly and effectively transparent · Combating the “he must not love me” myth and other untruths · What to do about the Internet, office temptations, and travel · Encouragement for wives who wonder if trust can ever be restored · The “five-minute phone call” and other daily trust-building strategies · What meaningful forgiveness and restitution look like · The Amends Matrix—a concrete exercise to admit past wrongs and cast a vision for a faithful future Including insights from Jason’s wife, Shelley, Worthy of Her Trust guides you through the process of rebuilding your relationship so it is stronger than ever.

Download or read book Moving Beyond Betrayal written by Vicki Tidwell Palmer and published by Central Recovery Press, LLC. This book was released on 2016-05-16 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A go-to guide on how to confront, heal from, and ultimately thrive after the devastation of betrayal by a partner's compulsive sexual or other addictive behavior The first book specifically for partners affected by addictive behavior that addresses, in detail, how to identify, create, and maintain boundaries as a vital component of self-care and an indispensable tool for healing and growth. Through working the 5-Step Boundary Solution partners will gain clarity; reduce the chaos inherent in relationships impacted by sex addiction; feel more empowered and in control of their lives; discover whether or not their relationship with the addict is salvageable. Vicki Tidwell Palmer is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT), and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) in private practice in Houston, Texas. She is the author of the blog for partners Survival Strategies for Partners of Sex Addicts.