If you suspect that you suffer from sex addiction, it is a good idea to see a counselor. They can help you come to terms with your addiction and employ tactics to be rid of your addictive behavior. But what tactics and techniques might they use in sex addiction counseling? Take a look:

Identifying Your Triggers

As with most addictions, sex addiction often involves triggers. These are events, emotions, or other situations that drive you to respond by engaging in the addictive behavior, which in your case is engaging in sexual acts. Your therapist may talk through your last few sexual encounters with you and try to identify a unifying theme. They may also have you keep a diary in which you note what you were doing, what was happening, and how you were feeling before each sexual encounter. Your trigger could be anything. It could be stress. It could be rejection. Once you know what your triggers are, your therapist can help you develop healthier mechanisms to cope with them.

Identifying Past Traumas

Why do you respond to your triggers with sex, rather than with other behaviors? In many cases, past trauma may be to blame. You may not have thought about the link between a certain trauma and your behavior in the past, but your therapist can help you identify and understand this relationship. Note that while you might assume the trauma has to be sexual in nature, that is not always the case. Sometimes sex addiction can be related to other traumas, such as injury in a car accident or loss of a loved one.

Developing New Behaviors

As mentioned above, your therapist will often spend some time trying to help you develop healthier, more effective methods of coping with the triggers you encounter. You will learn when to recognize you're being triggered, and how to divert your sexual behavior into something else. This behavior could be exercise. It could be stepping into the kitchen to cook something. It could even be making jewelry. Basically, you need to find a behavior you enjoy, and that you will be inspired to stick with.

While seeking help for your sexual addiction may be intimidating, rest assured that you are not alone. Many people deal with this, and there are a lot of therapists out there who can teach you how to identify your triggers and traumas and then deal with them in a healthier manner.