"Sexual addiction is defined as any sexually-related, compulsive behavior which interferes with normal living and causes severe stress on family, friends, loved ones, and one's work environment.
Sexual addiction has been called sexual dependency and sexual compulsivity. By any name, it is a compulsive behavior that completely dominates the addict's life. Sexual addicts make sex a priority more important than family, friends, and work. Sex becomes the organizing principle of addicts' lives. They are willing to sacrifice what they cherish most in order to preserve and continue their unhealthy behavior.
No single behavior pattern defines sexual addiction. These behaviors, when they have taken control of addicts' lives and become unmanageable, include: compulsive masturbation, compulsive heterosexual and homosexual relationships, pornography, prostitution, exhibitionism, voyeurism, indecent phone calls, child molesting, incest, rape, and violence. Even the healthiest forms of human sexual expression can turn into self-defeating behaviors."
I am still in shock. Less than 30 day ago, I was certain that my marriage was falling apart because of an emotionally and physically absent husband who placed his work before me and our children. That seems preferable, honestly, to what I am faced with now.
I've been reading and learning almost obsessively. Before the "diagnosis", I was looking into pornography addiction initially but am concentrating my research, now, on issues related to sexual addictions. Part of me wants - needs - desperately to understand why/how this happened but part of me wants to just take my kids and run away in an attempt to avoid the inevitable heartache I know I'm going to have to go through.
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