Are you looking for sex support groups? Are you a sex addict? Do you need support through your sex addiction recovery process? Do you know someone who can benefit from a twelve-step sex addiction recovery group? Do you want to beat sex addiction? Do you want to understand more about sex support groups? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this article is for you.
Hi. My name is Sean Galla. I am a facilitator of support groups and support forums for men, including sex support groups for sex addicts, with over 10 years of experience. My work involves providing safe spaces for men to talk about men’s issues, including sex addiction. In my line of work, I have seen firsthand how important being part of a support group is, especially for men living with sex addiction.
A support group is a fantastic place for anyone to get the support, information, and help they need to understand addiction and overcome it. This article gives you all the information you need about sex addiction and joining a support group. I will tell you why sex support groups are highly recommended for anyone interested in overcoming sex addiction.
Table of Contents:
What Is a Sex Support Group?
Sex support groups are forums that offer support and resources to help people overcome sex addiction. Commonly referred to ad SAAs, these support groups follow the traditional 12-step group’s recovery process common in AA and NA for alcoholics and substance abuse addicts that base the support on the principle that sex addiction is an illness. The view of the support groups is that even though there is no addiction treatment to cure sexual addiction, addicts can stop and control the dependency patterns and behaviors associated with the behavior.
Struggling with sex addiction is often an isolating and painful journey characterized by feelings of unworthiness, failure, and self-loathing. With so many stereotypes surrounding the condition, it can easily cause acting out, forcing the individual to withdraw from their friends, family, society, and loved ones.
Most people with sex addiction find it hard to open up to the people in their life, even to professionals, when seeking treatment. A sex addiction support group creates a safe space for sex addicts to get group therapy, meet others like them to share, learn and support each other through the recovery journey.
There is no shaming or judging in a support group, making it easier for sex addicts to disclose even the most uncomfortable details about their daily struggles. This open sharing is highly encouraged as an important part of treatment and recovery.
So, if you’re looking for information about Leaving Religion Group, then join mensgroup.com now!
How Sex Support Groups for Addicts Work
Sex support groups like recovery.org provide support and guidance to people living with an addiction to sex. The meetings take place anonymously to make it easier for members to freely share their thoughts, experiences, and struggles.
Everything shared in a sex addict’s meeting is held in strict confidentiality and received without judgment. This creates a safe environment for members to receive support that helps them address negative patterns that lead to destructive behavior in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance.
Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings can take place daily, weekly, or monthly, open for members to attend as often as they deem necessary.
Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) meetings are based on the 12-step recovery model established by Alcoholics Anonymous. The only condition placed for members is to display the desire to stop the destructive addiction pattern.
While one of the twelve traditions followed in most recovery groups focuses on God as a higher power, Sex Addicts Anonymous programs do not necessarily mean God when referring to a higher power. Instead, each member is allowed to draw their own definition of a higher power, as long as it is meaningful to them.
So, if you’re looking for information about Recovering from Religion, then join mensgroup.com now.
First meeting encounter
The first time you attend an SAA meeting, the group moderator gives you an opportunity to introduce yourself and share your experiences. As a beginner, you can choose to share as much or as little as possible about your addiction, the sharing process becomes easier with time. Anyone struggling with sex addiction will find a community that understands their experience.
While sex addiction is manageable through a 12-step recovery program like other addictions, what makes SAAs different from programs dealing with other addictions such as gambling or substance use is the extremely personal nature of sex addiction. To ensure every individual gets the kind of help they need, several types of Sex support groups are available.
Types of Sex Support Groups for Addicts
There are up to 5 types of 12-step programs for sex addiction. These are meant to segment groups to address different needs associated with sex addiction. Some states in the U.S. offer all five support group options, while others offer a selection based on demand. If you cannot find a local meeting to attend, you can consider online or helpline telephone support groups.
Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA)
The main goal of an SAA program is to uphold abstinence from specific sexual behaviors. However, unlike alcoholics or drug addicts’ programs, there is no universal definition of abstinence offered in Sex Addicts Anonymous. Most members are mostly interested in controlling their urges and not completely going celibate.
In sex support groups, members learn that it is not sex in and of itself that causes problems but addiction to certain sexual behaviors. In an SAA meeting, members are able to determine what behavior they find addictive and what is healthy. This way, every member determines the behavior they can enjoy and what to abstain from.
So, if you’re looking for information about Career Support Group, then join mensgroup.com now!
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA)
In SCA, members are allowed to develop personalized recovery plans, including defining sexual sobriety for themselves. This is done to ensure the group does not repress the members’ sexuality but instead teach them how to express it in healthier ways that do not include making unreasonable demands that can endanger their mental, physical or spiritual health.
Initially, SCA was a support group for gay and bisexual men. However, it is not open to all sexual orientations, with an increasing number of women and heterosexual men attending.
Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA)
SLAA is a support forum that focuses on addiction to sex and love addiction. This type of addiction is defined as any sexual or emotional act that leads to loss of control of its frequency and duration of occurrence or recurrence, resulting in mental, spiritual, emotional, physical anguish. Love and sex addiction can cause moral destruction to the addict and others around them. In SLAA, members are taught that sobriety is abstinence from a self-identified “bottom-line” behavior.
Sexaholics Anonymous (SA)
SA is a different sex support group from the other groups. It defines a sex addiction problem as “lust” and not sex addiction.
In SA, sobriety is defined in terms of specific behavior. According to SA, all forms of sex with oneself or with partners who are not your spouse are progressively addictive and destructive.
SA goes further narrows this definition to address marriage between a man and a woman specifically.
SA believes that anyone not in a heterosexual marriage should remain celibate, i.e., completely abstaining from all sexual behavior, including masturbation.
While many people have experienced success from SA meetings, unmarried people do not feel comfortable in the meetings and leave or lie about their sexual behavior. This portrays unnecessary, excessive, discriminatory, and confusing practices not encouraged with a sexual addiction recovery plans.
Most addict specialists do not recommend SA to people not in a heterosexual marriage and oppose its stance even though it is listed as a resource based on the value it serves to its members.
So, if you’re looking for information about the Child of Alcoholic Support Group, then join mensgroup.com now.
Sexual Recovery Anonymous (SRA)
SRA is a defector group category created by former SA members who left SA as they disagreed with SA’s sobriety definition. In SRA, members define sexual sobriety as a release from any form of compulsive and destructive sexual behavior. In these sex addict groups, sobriety includes freedom from self-pleasure and sex outside a committed relationship. While SRA still emphasizes commitment and relationships, it is not as restrictive as SA, making it ideal for unmarried couples.
Sex Support Groups Meeting Format
Online and offline options
Some meetings are held in real-time online via an internet connection. Both online and in-person meetings may be gender-specific, or they may be mixed gender and open to all people.
If you are a man in need of a support group that caters to men’s needs, MensGroup is an ideal support group option that meets online via zoom. This makes it accessible to men from anywhere, whether you are in New York or London.
Open or closed
Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings can either be closed or open.
Closed meetings are mostly open to people with addictive sexual behavior as it offers help specifically catering to their needs. On the other hand, open meetings are accessible to anyone looking for information about Sex Addicts Anonymous groups and the services offered.
Open meetings are often the entry point to other meetings since most people in attendance may not have admitted or accepted that they have a problem with their sexual activity or sexual behavior.
Open sex support groups are also ideal for friends or family members of a loved one suspected to have a sex addiction.
Men’s Group Sex Addiction Support Group for Men
Men’s Group is an online men’s support group that offers group support, help, and guidance to men interested in becoming better versions of themselves, including men working to overcome sex addiction.
It is a supportive network of men ready and willing to help others like them through shared life experiences. The mensgroup.com group session is more than just a self-help group. It offers one the support and guidance to become a better man and lead a better, more fulfilling addiction-free life.
As an online support group for men, the group meets virtually over video or chat, making it perfect for busy men who prefer not to attend physical addiction anonymous meetings, especially in this coronavirus pandemic era.
Conclusion
Like any other mental health problem, understanding sex addiction is a necessary first step in recovery. Whether you are an addict looking for help or a friend or loved one to an addict, this article has all the information you need to understand sex addiction support groups and get the help you need.
MensGroup offers a strong social network of friends who will walk with you in your recovery journey for men who need a support network.
*Sources: 1. Compulsive sexual behavior: A twelve-step therapeutic approach 2. New Research Supports Sexual Addiction as a Legitimate Diagnosis 3. Sexual Addiction: Resources for Healing 4. CE Corner: Sex therapy for the 21st century: Five emerging directions 5. Sex Addiction
