Losing Your Best Friend

By: Carol Juergensen Sheets, LCSW, PCC, CSAT When one decides to recover from sexual addiction, it can feel like you’ve lost your best friend. You grieve the time you spent with your addiction and the exhilarating rush you received while increasing the intensity of your desires. More than likely, you… Read More

Is Sex Addiction a Real Thing?

By:  Carol Juergensen Sheets, LCSW, PCC, CSAT People oftentimes “scoff” at the notion that one can have a sexual addiction. They understandably feel that sexual misbehavior results from a society that believes in immediate gratification. Most people don’t understand sexual addiction and have no idea that people who suffer… Read More

Sex, Love, and Longing

I am often asked in therapy (with deep reluctance and trepidation) if it is a pre-requisite of therapy to explore childhood issues. “That depends,” I say. “I have no desire to dwell in your past but exploring your past childhood relationships might help us both understand your current relationship style… Read More

Why Does a Sex Addict Act Out?

Sexual addiction is like all addictions devastating to the addict and his or her family. It is considered an intimacy disorder because it affects the natural process that occurs when two people love each other and work on building ongoing closeness, communication, and trust. I recently received an email… Read More

Maureen Canning: Sex Addiction Can Kill

As part of its ongoing series, The Meadows, America’s premier center for the treatment of addiction and trauma, presents a video of Maureen Canning discussing sexual addiction in women. In the fourth video of her nine-part series, Ms. Canning, a leading expert in the field of sexual addiction, talks about… Read More

Why Do Powerful Men Risk Everything to Have Sexual Affairs?

From the outside, they seem to have it all: fame, power, respect. But they are also addicted to sexual acting-out and the intensity, risk, and adrenaline high that comes with it. For some, the secrets and the sense of getting away with bad behavior are the best part of the… Read More

Shame and Sex Addiction

The Meadows is pleased to present its ongoing series of videos on addiction and trauma; the series features some of the most influential figures in the mental health field, including Maureen Canning, John Bradshaw, and Dr. Jerry Boriskin, among others. In the second video of her series, Maureen Canning, MA,… Read More

Borderline Personality Disorder and Sex Addiction: Interesting Bedfellows

The fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy are peppered with uninformed beliefs and misjudgments. For instance, individuals can be pejoratively diagnosed as borderline or, perhaps more accurately, viewed as exhibiting symptoms of complex traumatic stress. In cases of the latter, old unresolved traumas are reenacted in the here and now and,… Read More

Is Sex Addiction Real?

I have seen several articles questioning sex addiction. Is it real? Recently the media have been questioning the legitimacy of sexual addiction. Is it a real disorder – or just an excuse for “bad boys” to have sex? Having worked in the field for more than 20 years, I know… Read More

Healthy Sexuality One Step at a Time

By Maureen Canning Note: This article was originally published in the Summer 2005 issue of MeadowLark, the magazine for alumni of The Meadows. There is a saying in AA that reminds newcomers “to fake it until you make it.” The belief behind this advice is that you can act… Read More