Intimate Partner Violence and Love Addiction

By: Rebekah Givens, Behavioral Health Technician, Willow House at The Meadows Imagine that what you crave more than anything else in the world are love and acceptance. Now, imagine that throughout your life, you've continually tried to earn the love of others, yet your efforts come up empty time and again. Read More

The Connection Between Love Addiction and Love Avoidance

By Jean Collins LCSW, LISAC, CSAT, Executive Director of Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows What are love addiction and love avoidance, and what do they have to do with love? Things can get very muddy for women who struggle with self-defeating relationship patterns. Fortunately for women whose lives… Read More

Mutual Respect and The Power of Intimacy

By Dan Griffin, MA, Senior Fellow at The Meadows Power is a fascinating phenomenon. I remember having numerous conversations about the complex intersection of power and relationships in graduate school. There was a lot of confusion as to what exactly power even is. Read More

Distorted Love: Adult Attachment Styles and Love Addiction

By Alexandra Katehakis, Ph.D.(c), MFT, CST-S, CSAT-S, Former Senior Fellow at The Meadows For decades, researchers have struggled to define the unconscious processes of irrational love paramount in myths and fairy tales. Lovers in these stories are portrayed as love-struck, driven to tantrums or immature behavior, wholly bewitched by the… Read More

Sex and Love Addiction: Help for Family Members

By: Jerry Law D.Min, MDAAC, CIP, Program Director of Family Education and Leadership Training for Meadows Behavioral Healthcare Dave and Sue were immediately hit with that sinking feeling in the gut, having received a call that their son was arrested for solicitation of a sex worker. Tammy found a suspicious… Read More

Love, Relationship, Sex Addiction: What’s the Difference?

By Dr. Stefanie Carnes, Ph.D., CSAT-S, Senior Fellow at The Meadows Women who seek treatment related to their out-of-control romantic and/or sexual behaviors are sometimes unsure about how to label their issues. They ask, “Am I a love addict, a relationship addict, or a sex addict?” Generally, their confusion stems… Read More

Love Addiction: Myth vs. Reality

By Caroline Becker, LISAC, LACTherapist, The Meadows Outpatient Center What is Love Addiction? Pia Mellody defines love addiction as: “A condition in which individuals…are attracted to somebody who will neglect the relationship.” This creates a co-dependent love dance that is unhealthy, frustrating, and debilitating to the love addict, yet they remain entrenched in a fantasy of what was or might be. Read More

Hooked on Love

By Jill Vermeire, MFT, CSAT-S, Willow House at The Meadows Program Director You might be a love addict if: You always fall for toxic or unavailable peopleYou would rather be in a bad relationship than be aloneYour life falls apart after every break up Who Doesn’t Want to Be in… Read More

Saying Goodbye to Love Addiction and Love Avoidance

The following letter was written by a woman who attended The Love Addiction/Love Avoidance workshop at The Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows. At the end of the workshop, participants were asked to write a goodbye letter to their love addiction and… Read More

Why Wasn’t I Enough? My Experience of Working with Partners of Sex Addicts

Finding out that your committed partner has sexually betrayed you is like getting your heart ripped out, stomped on, thrown through a glass window, spit on, and perhaps lastly, smothered with gasoline and set on fire. Then, your partner asks you to forgive him or her; and you don’t think… Read More