The Impact of Sex Addiction | Partners of Sex Addicts

The Basics

While a sex addict will encounter many significant challenges in their effort to attain sobriety, their partners and spouses may have it harder.   Anytime infidelity happens, whether it is actually in person, through pornography, or an internet encounter, the deceived partner will find they have to emotionally review and call into question everything they thought they knew about their relationship, looking back to try to find out what they missed, what went wrong and even what they could have done differently.

Deceived spouses may begin to challenge their particular behavior as they look back over the relationship.  Most betrayed spouses go through an extensive selection of feelings in regards to the sex addict, about themselves, and about the relationship. While the sex addict has known all along about his or her sexual behaviors, and may actually be feeling relief, the sexual acting out has been exposed, and the betrayed partner is generally somewhat blindsided by the revelation. Normally, the cheating itself, or a specific sexual act, is not what causes the most pain, it is the loss of trust in the relationship caused by the constant lying of the addict.

Partner and Spouse Recovery

Partners who have experienced infidelity have good reason to feel distressed, mistrustful, angry, and lost. Partners of sex addicts who opt to stay in the relationship frequently find that it is some time before they’re in a position to reestablish real trust and relaxation. That said, when the sex addict in the relationship is committed to a recovery plan, then this sort of healing may be possible. If the betrayed partner wants to continue in the relationship, they will need to join the addict in his or her attempts by also beginning a process of recovery.  Individual therapy, support groups, and intensives can help accelerate healing and also provide a safe environment to explore and learn about living in recovery with a sex addict.

If you or someone you know is struggling with the effects of betrayal in their marriage or relationship caused by a sex addiction, Life Counseling Solutions offers weekend intensives as well as small groups designed to provide an intimate and safe environment to overcome the effects of your betrayal. For more information call 407-622-1770 or visit at LifeCounselingSolutions.com.

Zuleida is an experienced therapist, but she is also a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a survivor. Zuleida’s therapeutic specialty is relationship. Her clients know her for bringing her best therapy for “Women and those that they love” She is skilled at addressing important issues: Relationship, Depression, Co-Dependency, Anxiety, and Abuse, to name a few. Families, Women, and Teenage girls in crisis connect especially well with her. She is well versed in the unique stresses and multiple balancing acts that busy families face, especially with families that require crisis therapy intervention.