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Using the Power of Kundalini Yoga as a Resource for Recovery from Addiction Part 2

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Michael

By Fred Haas

Fred has is an engineer, a spiritualist and a recovery coach in Texas. For more information on Kundalini Yoga as a Resource for Recovery from Addiction please contact Fred Haas at: Fred.Haas@sbcglobal.net

This blog presents information about the use of kundalini yoga as a resource for recovery from addiction. Kundalini yoga can be part of the core strategy in a recovery plan or it can be an added tool to supplement and enhance 12-step recovery. Last week the first part of this article provided background information on kundalini, kundalini yoga, and kundalini yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan. This week the second part of an article that provides information on kundalini yoga and addiction recovery, kundalini yoga meditation, kundalini yoga kriyas and additional resources for further exploration of the topic.

Kundalini Yoga and Addiction Recovery
Kundalini Yoga began as a treatment modality when 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization founded by Yogi Bhajan) ashram staff members in Washington, D.C. took in two heroin addicts and fed them. As an experiment they offered them recovery services. The heroin addicts were kept in a controlled environment for two weeks and put on a program that centered on Kundalini Yoga and meditation. Both men experienced an amazing transformation.

Super-health, the country’s first alternative health center for the treatment of addictions in Tucson, Arizona was created from this experience. Super-health developed into a systematized program with customized treatment plans for behavioral addictions including stress, substance abuse and other unhealthy habits and emotional disorders. The program included three Kundalini Yoga and meditation classes each day, providing a specific detoxification and rehabilitation diet complete with fresh juices, a vitamin and herbal regime, therapeutic massages, Humanology sessions (applied psychology from the perspective of Kundalini Yoga) and individual, family and spiritual counseling.

Super-health earned the prestigious western medical accolade of accreditation from JCAHO, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in 1978 and eventually received its highest commendation. Super-health distinguished itself as being in the top 10% of all treatment programs throughout the United States in 1978.

From these pioneering efforts of the Kundalini yoga community, yoga and meditation are becoming progressively incorporated into mainstream treatment facilities. It is increasingly more common for yoga and meditation to be integrated into treatment programs in hospitals, sober living houses and county treatment centers. From the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California to programs in prisons, yoga classes are presented as either electives or mandatory therapeutic experiences. Kundalini Yoga advances the spiritual quest that Alcoholics Anonymous finds integral to recovery so it serves as a good supplement to the 12 steps.

In 2004, a life long goal of Yogi Bhajan, that his teachings to be brought back to India, became a reality. The Punjab government invited Super-health to conduct a 90 day pilot project for drug users in Amritsar, India. In October of that year, with a team of professional volunteers, the program opened to serve ten clients. The experience profoundly changed their lives.

Kundalini Yoga Meditation
In addition to the general benefits associated with meditation (remain calm and centered, peace of mind, self discipline, increased self esteem, greater awareness and higher consciousness), each Kundalini yoga meditation creates a specific effect. Examples of specific effects that are created by kundalini yoga meditations that help people in recovery include a meditation to shield us from negativity or a meditation to free us from guilt, blame, shame, resentment and bitterness.

The “Medical Meditation for Habituation” (also called the Meditation to break addiction) is one of the best meditations to specifically promote rehabilitation from drug dependence. This is a quote from the book Sadhana Guidelines for Kundalini Yoga by Gurucharan Singh that serves as the commentary for this meditation.

“The pressure exerted by the thumbs triggers a rhythmic reflex current into the central brain. This current activates the brain area directly underneath the stem of the pineal gland. It is an imbalance in this area that makes mental and physical addictions seemingly unbreakable.

In modern culture, the imbalance is pandemic. If we are not addicted to smoking, eating, drinking or drugs, then we are addicted subconsciously to acceptance, advancement, rejection, emotional love, etc. All these lead us to insecure and neurotic behavior patterns.

The imbalance in this pineal area upsets the radiance of the pineal gland itself. It is this pulsating radiance that regulates the pituitary gland. Since the pituitary regulates the rest of the glandular system, the entire body and mind go out of balance. This meditation corrects the problem. It is excellent for everyone but particularly effective for rehabilitation efforts in drug dependence, mental illness, and phobic conditions.”
The effects of meditation are mastered when they are established as part of a daily practice or Sadhana. This develops a life promoting habit. Humans are habitual creatures so we can actually change our destiny by changing our habits. According to yogic science, the human mind works in cycles. We can use various cycles to help replace unwanted patterns of behavior (mental or emotional habits), with new, more positive ones when we commit to a particular meditation or kriya for a specific time. It takes 40 days to change a habit. It takes 90 days to confirm the habit. In 120 days, the new habit is who you are. In 1000 days, you have mastered the new habit.

A duration of practice that lasts 40 days lets the meditation provoke your subconscious (mind) to release any thoughts and emotional patterns that hinder you. A good meditation will break your old patterns, put in a seed for a new pattern, and clear the subconscious.

The length of the meditation has an associated affect. Three (3) minutes affects the Electro -Magnetic field and blood circulation. Eleven (11) minutes affects the nerves and glandular system. Twenty two (22) minutes balances the three minds (Negative, Positive and Neutral) and they begin to work together. Thirty one to thirty three (31-33) minutes affects all the cells, the rhythms of the body, and the layers of the mind’s projections. Sixty two to sixty six (62-66) minutes alters the ‘grey matter’ of the brain – subconscious and outer-projection are integrated. Two and a half (2.5) hours alters the psyche in relation with the surrounding magnetic field to firmly hold the subconscious mind in a new pattern.

Kundalini Yoga Kriya
In kundalini yoga, a kriya is an exercise or group of exercises that have a specific purpose. It is a technique that produces an altered state of consciousness. Practicing a kriya launches a succession of mental and physical changes that affect the body, mind and spirit.

Choosing a kriya to support the recovery process is simplified because each kriya makes a claim to its specific effect. Examples of kriyas that can apply to people in recovery are the kriya for conquering sleep, the kriya for conquering depression, the kriya for liver detox, the kriya to get rid of anger and fear, or the kriya to be rid of internal anger.
Additional Resources for Further Exploration

Resources pertaining to Kundalini Yoga and Recovery:

Book:
• Meditations for Addictive Behavior by Mukta Kaur Khalsa, Ph.D.

Websites:
• http://super-health.net • A reprint from their website: Super-health is on the cutting edge of breaking habits and addictive behavior. It is at the forefront of yogic therapeutic technology that is precise and proven effective. The system addresses alcohol, drugs, smoking, food issues, co-dependency, gambling, work, and computers. It also includes stress, depression, fatigue and anxiety.

• http://www.wholeselfrecovery.com • A reprint from their website: The Whole Self Recovery Program facilitates journeys of healing and rejuvenation that purify, strengthen and merge the body, mind, heart and spirit. Whole Self Recovery offers an alternative to those who seek something other than the traditional recovery program styles as well as something alternative to the most popular 12 step programs. The program immerses the individual in a lifestyle where optimum physical, mental and spiritual health can be achieved and maintained using Kundalini Yoga, Acupuncture, Chiropractics, Ayurveda, Cleansing, Psychology, Addiction Counseling, massage, numerology and other elective therapies.

• http://www.totalhealthrecoveryprogram.com/home.htm • A reprint from their website: Total Health Recovery Program is a world class international holistic drug and alcohol residential-like treatment center and rehab program using master healers and innovative diagnostic and treatment technology to treat drug and alcohol clients. Total Health Recovery Program uses Kundalini Yoga and meditations because it has thousands of exercises available to the practitioner. It is one of the most powerful of all yogas. It is great for releasing stress.

• http://www.kundaliniyoga.org/kyt11.html • Reprint from their website: Food, diet, weight loss, eating disorders, and other addictive substances and behaviors-whatever our specific issue, everyday we are all confronted with what to put in our mouths and how the decisions we make affect our well-being. My approach is to use our addictive tendencies as a path to empowerment. In the process we can claim “the gifts from the garbage.”

Videos:

• Yogi Bhajan – An Effective Approach to Addictive Behavior http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auFInq0nMPc

• Yogi Bhajan -Yogic Approach to Addictive Behavior • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fip6PzUMc4

• Carolyn Cowan – Addiction: Understanding the Addictive Mind • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZbCLwxSL3c&feature=related

• Carolyn Cowan – Kundalini Meditations: Healing Addictions • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyjJ2U-L3CE&feature=related

Article:
• http://www.healthy.net/scr/article.aspx?Id=2350 This article present treating the Chemically Dependent as a Resurrection Process By Sadhu Singh Khalsa LISW, MSW

Books:
• Kundalini Yoga – Guidelines for Sadhana (Daily Practice) by Gurucharan Singh Khalsa
• Kundalini Yoga – Unlock Your Inner Potential Through Life-Changing Exercise by Shakta Kaur Khalsa

Websites:
• http://www.yogibhajan.com Yogi Bhajan’s website: This site presents information about Yogi Bhajan, kundalini yoga, videos, kriyas and meditations.
• http://www.3ho.org Website for the 3HO Foundation: This site presents Information about 3HO, finding teachers, events, information about kundalini yoga and has some kriyas and meditations.
• http://kundaliniresearchinstitute.org Website for the Kundalini Research Institute: This site presents information about teacher training, courses/events and provides some tools for students and teachers.
• http://www.pinklotus.org This website provides a lot of information about Kundalini yoga and it does it in multiple languages.

• http://www.soulanswer.com Reprint from their website: Our Soul Illumines and Heals. What Your Mind Can’t See! Clear Your Mind, Nourish Your Heart, Empower Your Soul! Transform Fear and Pain to Profound Peace. Allow your Heart to be Deeply Nourished and Satisfied And Open to the Incredible Wisdom and Power of your own Unique Soul, your God-Self to become really, really HAPPY!

• http://www.kundaliniyoga.org/ This is the website for Kundalini Yoga. It is the most powerful yoga known, and was brought to the West in 1969 by Yogi Bhajan, it produces results 16 times faster than ordinary yoga. Its power comes from the Kundalini, an enormous reserve of untapped potential within each of us. It is normally depicted as a coiled or sleeping serpent, located in an area towards the base of the spine. By gradually and safely awakening this serpent and employing its power, you will benefit greatly from an elevation in consciousness, promotion of physical well-being and an expansion of awareness. You will feel more relaxed and at ease with yourself. Your life will be transformed into one which is happy, healthy & harmonious.

Thank you for reading this blog, if you would like to contact Fred and speak to him more on Kundalini Yoga, his email is: fred.haas@sbcglobal.net

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Using the Power of Kundalini Yoga as a Resource for Recovery from Addiction by Guest Blogger Fred Haas

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Michael

Using the Power of Kundalini Yoga as a Resource for Recovery from Addiction
Part 1
By Fred Haas

Fred Haas is an engineer, spiritualist and a recovery coach from Texas. His blog post presents information about the use of kundalini yoga as a resource for recovery from addiction.

Kundalini yoga can be part of the core strategy in a recovery plan or it can be an added tool to supplement and enhance 12-step recovery. For the purposes of this blog this article is divided into two parts. The first part (this week) provides some background information on kundalini, kundalini yoga, and kundalini yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan. The second part of the blog (next week) provides information on kundalini yoga and addiction recovery, kundalini yoga meditation, kundalini yoga kriyas and additional resources for further exploration of the topic.

Kundalini Activation and Effects

Kundalini energy or spiritual energy is a psycho-spiritual energy of the consciousness that lies at the base of the spine in a latent form as a sleeping, dormant, potential force. Kundalini is described as a great reservoir of creative energy. It is useful to think of Kundalini energy as the very foundation of our consciousness so that when kundalini moves through our bodies our conscious body naturally changes with it. Kundalini energy is a most innate and essential part of spiritual advancement, unfoldment, or realization.Kundalini energy is aroused either through spiritual discipline or spontaneously to bring new states of consciousness, including mystical illumination.

The arousal of Kundalini energy takes place in the subtle body. The subtle body consists of nadis (energy channels), chakras (psychic centers), prana (subtle energy), and bindu (drops of essence). In yogic anatomy, awakened Kundalini rises up through the central nadi called the sushumna. The sushumna is the central channel and conduit for the kundalini energy that runs inside or alongside the spine and up to the crown of the head. There are seven major chakras located along this central channel. These chakras are associated with aspects of our anatomy. They are the root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye and crown chakras. In essence, these chakras are psychic centers in our own human physical forms that, when activated by Kundalini energy, connect us to spiritual energies, and ultimately to the divine.
To summarize the chakras briefly, the first chakra (root) is associated with the color red and with basic root power, pure potential energy. The second chakra (sacral) is associated with the color orange, and with sexual and creative energy. The third chakra (solar plexus) is associated with the color yellow and with emotions, feelings and intuition. The fourth chakra (heart) is associated with the color green and with feelings of love, unity and balance, as it is the midway point between the upper and lower chakras. The fifth chakra (throat) is associated with the color light blue and with the voice and personal expression. The sixth chakra (third eye) is associated with the color indigo, or a deep blue, and with the eyes and with spiritual sight and visions. The seventh chakra (crown) is associated with the color purple (a combination of red, the root chakra and deep blue, the sixth chakra) and with oneness and enlightenment, and a connection to the rest of the universe.
The progress of kundalini through the different chakras leads to different levels of awakening and mystical experience, until the kundalini finally reaches the top of the head, the crown chakra, producing an extremely profound mystical experience. Our experience of these centers is limited due to knots which restrict the flow of energy into these centers.

Kundalini can be awakened by an indirect or direct path. Indirectly kundalini can be awakened by devotion, by selfless service, or by intellectual inquiry. Through these paths the blocks to the awakening of kundalini are slowly removed. Directly kundalini can be awakened when initiated by a guru after which the core of the practice is the inactive and non-willful surrender to kundalini or by using intentional yogic techniques that use the will to awaken the kundalini and to guide its progress. These intentional yogic techniques include Mantra Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Laya Yoga or Kriya Yoga.

All of Yoga actually leads to the activation of Kundalini. The ultimate outcome of kundalini is the union of Will, Knowledge and Action (The Absolute).

Kundalini awakening takes different forms for different people. The differences can range from experiences of pure bliss to extreme inner challenges. It can result in a wide array of sensations. The more pleasant experiences associated with a kundalini awakening may include waves of bliss, periods of elation, and glimpses of transcendental consciousness. The less pleasant experiences associated with a kundalini awakening may include trembling, sharp aches in areas associated with the chakras, periods of irrational anxiety, and sudden flashes of heat.

Kundalini energy is like a power wash that cleanses the chakras of any blockages or disturbances, and brings them back to their full, vibrating potential. Once the power wash is switched on it can not simply be turned off so this intense cleansing continues until the body adjusts. Once the energy is gushing forth, rising up the chakra system, it will come into contact with each of the chakras. If it is met with resistance in the form of blockages from psychological debris and unconscious material then the kundalini energy will wash away the cover and expose the raw unprocessed intimate core of the matter. As a result, even in the best of circumstances, the joy associated with the awakening of kundalini is likely to be attended with a certain amount of anxiety as kundalini wrests control from the ego and unconscious contents spill over into consciousness.

There are things that improve this situation. First a knowledgeable teacher makes a difference. A supportive environment of fellow practitioners who have undergone the same awakening can provide comfort and confidence. Finally, a strong and resilient mind capable of coping with this sudden burst of unconscious material will help.

Also, there may need to be some integration of the effects of these experiences into the body and personality. This is a time when stabilizing actions are important, including daily exercise, wholesome food, reparative sleep patterns, and healthy relationships with others.

Kundalini Yoga

The earliest known written mention of Kundalini Yoga is in the Yoga-Kundalini Upanishad. Some have estimated that the composition of this text dates back between 1,400 and 1,000 BC. The origins of Kundalini Yoga come from the Kashmir region of India. During the thousands of years Kundalini Yoga existed in India its teachings were restricted and maintained as a secret oral tradition to protect the techniques from being abused.

Kundalini yoga is the yoga of awareness. It incorporates physical, mental and spiritual aspects of yoga into a cohesive and integrated system. It is considered an advanced form of yoga that consists of active and passive asana (yoga posture) based kriyas (protocols for different issues), pranayama (breath control), mantra (sound) and meditations that target the whole body system (nervous system, glands, mental faculties, chakras). The asanas focus on naval activity, activity of the spine, and selective pressurization of body points and meridians. Pranayama and the application of bhandas (3 yogic locks) aid to release, direct and control the flow of Kundalini energy from the lower centers to the higher energetic centers. This practice raises the complete body awareness and thereby prepares the whole body system to handle the energy of the Kundalini rising.

Kundalini yoga develops awareness, consciousness and spiritual strength. The purpose of Kundalini yoga is for humans to achieve their total creative potential. It cultivates the creative spiritual potential of a human to uphold values, speak truth, and focus on the compassion and consciousness needed to serve and heal others.

Kundalini Yoga as Taught by Yogi Bhajan
Yogi Bhajan brought Kundalini Yoga from India to the west in 1968, and taught extensively until his death in 2004. He began training in Kundalini Yoga when he was eight years old, and mastered this discipline at age sixteen.

Yogi Bhajan broke the ancient tradition of secrecy and introduced Kundalini Yoga to the West. Kundalini Yoga had never been taught anywhere publicly before this time. Yogi Bhajan started teaching kundalini yoga because he saw that thousands of young people were using drugs in search of higher consciousness. He offered an alternative to the drug culture. He knew kundalini yoga would give seekers a real experience of God within, and help heal their mental and emotional problems as well as the physical bodies that had been damaged by the use of drugs.

Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan® is a formalized style of yoga. A class typically consists of six major components: 1) tuning-in with the Adi Mantra, 2) pranayam or warm-up, 3) kriya, 4) relaxation, 5) meditation and 6) close with the blessing song, “May the Long Time Sun Shine Upon You”. The kriyas are complete sets of exercises that are performed in the specific sequences and directions given by Yogi Bhajan. Yogi Bhajan established the 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) foundation in 1969 to further his missionary work.

Next week this blog post with continue with part 2 and discuss kundalini yoga and addiction recovery, kundalini yoga meditation, kundalini yoga kriyas and additional resources for further exploration of the topic.

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Can Women be Sex Addicts?

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Michael

 

Can Women be Sex Addicts?

Guest Post By Robert Weiss LCSW, CSAT-S

Robert Weiss is Founding Director of The Sexual Recovery Institute and Director of Sexual Disorders Services at The Ranch Treatment Center and Promises Treatment Centers. These centers serve individuals seeking sexual addiction treatment and porn addiction help.

From what the media tells us, sexual addiction is a strictly male problem or least that is all we seem to hear. Men cheating on their wives, men seeing prostitutes, men going to strip clubs, massage parlors and of course, male politicians sexting online. Does this mean that there are no female sex addicts? If there are women out there who are acting out with sex, where are they and why don’t we hear more about them?

The news media gives endless examples of famous husbands who betray their wives in ways that often result in public humiliation for them both (Clinton, Sanford, Tiger, Weiner, etc.). But what about women who ‘act out’ with sex and romance? While we know that women act out additively with food, drugs, alcohol, gambling spending and caretaking, the truth is that there is little to no research on female sex and relationship addiction. What we do know today is that approximately 8-12% of those seeking sexual addiction treatment are women (which interestingly more or less mirrors the numbers of men entering eating disorders treatment), but it is highly likely that many women struggle with compulsive and impulsive sexual and relationship disorders. A woman is less likely than a man to seek help for her problem sexual behavior for a variety of reasons – mostly related to shame.

Emblematic of this problem is our cultural reference for the man who is generating a lot of sexual contacts “stud”, whereas a woman engaging in the same types of activity is referenced as “slut” or “nympho”. This kind of prejudice leaves those women with sexual and romantic behavior problems more highly subject to shame and prejudice – and therefore less likely to get help.  Even the woman whose sexual and romantic behaviors are causing her profound problems  (health, family, relationship, career, etc.) is not likely to identify as having a sexual problem, she is more likely to use terms like, “I have relationship issues” or “I tend to pick the wrong partners”. Because women more often see and experience sexuality in more relational terms then do men – even when a woman is having sex in the same ways and frequency as a male sex addict often won’t identify as having herself as having this problem.

While the primary etiology of male sexual addiction is mostly based in early emotional neglect, covert parental incest and early attachment deficits – female sex addicts report much greater incidences of profound, overt childhood abuse, physical neglect and trauma – often sexual, which leads to sex addiction and intimacy issues in later life. Some of these women unconsciously live out their early abuse by becoming sex workers (i.e. prostitutes, strippers, involved in porn, sensual massage, etc.), attempting to give themselves a sense of ‘control’ over early out of control experiences. As their adult lives are dominated by exchanging sex for money and the feelings of control and power that sexual behavior offers them, these women have little access to outside support or role models toward change and self-examination.

Not all women who are sex and relationship addicts are prostitutes however, many are housewives, single women and even teens, who utilize sex and romantic intensity as a means of self-stability and comfort, despite the various risks and dangers associated with addictive sexual relationships. In terms of risk taking and out-of-control behavior, female sex addicts are very similar to male sex addicts.

Mary S. presented for treatment in an acute crisis when her husband Jeff learned about her having multiple affairs and was threatened to leave unless she got help. Mary is 38 years old with two children ages 4 and 7. In addition to the affairs and anonymous sexual liaisons both before and throughout her marriage, Mary also disclosed “losing myself on a daily basis” to 30-40 minutes of porn use with masturbation, “to help calm me down or as a way to get to sleep” for nearly all her adult life.  She simply reported this as “what I do to relax” but she also keeps this secret from her husband.

Though Mary had a highly physically and emotionally abusive home environment, she had not previously sought out treatment or therapy nor did she relate her problem adult sexual and romantic history to early childhood abuse. She told her therapist that she had always believed that “by marrying the right guy, I could just put the past behind me, when Jeff came along – I thought I was safe” Just after her first child was born, Mary began sexual/romantic affairs with both a neighbor and separately, a co-worker, believing then that her marriage had become boring and she needed these other experiences to feel “more alive”.  In addition to the stated ongoing sexual and romantic liaisons over the past several years, Mary has been signing onto Craigslist in search of other lovers and casual sex whenever she or her husband are out of town for work. Despite her sexual acting out history – Mary was highly motivated to make her marriage work and keep her family together.

Today there are a few precious resources for female sex and love addicts include the recent book, “Waiting to Heal” by Kelly McDaniel MFT,  “Women, Sex and Addiction” by Charlotte Kasl. SLAA, Sex and Love addicts Anonymous is a 12-step sex addiction recovery program that encourages female participation and offers many gender separate meetings. The Ranch, a residential treatment center in Nunnelly Tennessee offers private, gender separate residential treatment for female sex addicts.

The most important step a female sex and love addict can take toward recovery is to openly and honestly bond with healthy adult women, not for sex – but for recreation, friendship and mutual support. Sharing their sexual past in detail (non-graphic) with other women helps to reduce shame and non-sexual bonding with supportive women helps alleviate the need to use men sexually for self-soothing and self-stability.

Below are is an abbreviated list of 20 key “questions” adapted from the Sex and Love Addicts literature that might help a woman self-determine if she has this type of problem. More about SLAA can be found at:  http://www.slaafws.org/

Am I a Female Sex and Love Addict?

1.) Do you feel that your life is becoming or is unmanageable because of your sexual and/or romantic behavior or your excessive dependency needs?

2.) Do you find yourself unable to stop seeing a specific person even though you know that seeing this person is destructive to you?

3.) Do you feel that you don’t want anyone to know about your sexual or romantic activities? Do you feel you need to hide these activities from others – friends, family, co-workers, counselors, etc.?

4.) Do you get “high” from sex and/or romance and then crash when the act or experience is over?

5.)  Have you had sex at inappropriate times, in inappropriate places, and/or with inappropriate people?

6.) Do you make promises to yourself or rules for yourself concerning your sexual or romantic behavior that you find you cannot follow?

7.) Have you had or do you have sex with someone you don’t (didn’t) want to have sex with?

8.) Have you ever thought that there might be more you could do with your life if you were not so driven by sexual and romantic pursuits?

9.) Do you feel desperate about your need for a lover, sexual fix, or future mate?

10.) Have you or do you have sex regardless of the consequences (e.g. the threat of being caught, the risk of contracting herpes, gonorrhea, AIDS, etc.)?

11.) Do you find that you have a pattern of repeating bad relationships?

12.) Do you feel like a lifeless puppet unless there is someone around with whom you can flirt? Do you feel that you’re not “really alive” unless you are with your sexual/romantic partner?

13.) Have you ever threatened your financial stability, career or standing in the community by pursuing a sexual partner?

14.) Have you ever had a serious relationship threatened or destroyed because of outside sexual activity?

15.) Do you feel that life would have no meaning without a love relationship or without sex? Do you feel that you would have no identity if you were not someone’s lover?

16.) Do you find yourself flirting with or sexualizing someone even if that was not your intention?

17.) Does your sexual and/or romantic behavior affect your reputation?

18.) Do you feel uncomfortable about your masturbation because of the frequency with which you masturbate, the fantasies you engage in, the props you use, and/or the places in which you do it?

19.) Are you unable to concentrate on other areas of your life because of thoughts or feelings you are having about another person or about sex?

20.) Do you find yourself obsessing about a specific person or sexual act even though these thoughts bring pain, craving or discomfort?**

**excerpt from © 1985 The Augustine Fellowship, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Fellowship-Wide Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Robert Weiss is Founding Director of The Sexual Recovery Institute and Director of Sexual Disorders Services at The Ranch Treatment Center and Promises Treatment Centers. These centers serve individuals seeking sexual addiction treatment and porn addiction help.

Follow Robert on Twitter @RobWeissMSW

 

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