What is Sexual Addiction?

Sexual addiction is a word that makes most people feel uncomfortable.  It is common for people to associate sexual addiction with extreme behaviors like pedophilia and child molestation. While these and other illegal behaviors are lumped into the sexual addiction genre, the vast majority of men and women dealing with sexual addiction have never come close to engaging in such behavior. 

Having an affair, viewing pornography, visiting strip club/adult bookstores, using online chat rooms/cam chatting, and even visiting a prostitute are behaviors that can very easily create an addiction in the brain. These compulsive behaviors can lead to serious damage to those around you. For years, men, women and children have been viewing pornography without fully understanding the harmful effects it can have, both internally on the brain, and externally in the relationships we enjoy.

Consider this: If every teenage boy began smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, chances are, by the time these boys reached forty, many would be dying of cancer. If it was just a way of life, people probably wouldn’t blame the cigarettes. They would probably conclude, “men die early” instead of "cigarettes are unhealthy". The same phenomenon is actually occurring with porn. We assume all men look at porn, and that it's normal; yet we fail to see the life-threatening effects it has the ability to cause.

Hidden River Counseling is ready to help you find the pathway towards freedom from your struggle with unhealthy, compulsive sexual behavior such as pornography, affairs, prostitutes, online chatting, lust, compulsive flirting, and much more.

A Note to Spouses:

If you are in a relationship with someone who struggles with addiction, you have experienced trauma. It is exhausting to try to wrap your head around why this person you love continues to choose behavior that is detrimental to you and your relationship.  We believe that as your partner works through their recovery from addiction, you must also begin working toward your recovery from being the partner of an addict. 

We provide a safe place for you to begin processing the damage that has been done to you.

An addict can - and must - work through recovery as an individual, but eventually, the relationship needs attention.  In order for the relationship to recover, it takes two willing partners doing their own work.  Addiction creates incredible havoc on relationships.  While the addicted individual must seek help, it is crucial that the relationship be given adequate attention for the sake of restoring healthy intimacy. 

Kendall played a crucial role in saving my marriage.

"Kendall helped me confront and combat my addiction by attacking the underlying emotional drivers behind it, as well as providing practical safeguards against it.  Ultimately,  Kendall played a crucial role in saving my marriage, which had been negatively affected by my pornography use."

— J.F.

There is hope.