If your natural interest in sexual activity has seemingly become excessive or risky and is accompanied by a daily sense of denial, deception, isolation, blame shifting, or excuses for your not being “present” in your relationships or work environment.

Do not hate yourself if this describes your present state, or do not neglect your partner or colleague if they match this description. There are over 10 million new cases of sex addiction every year in the United States alone. There’s only so much you can control, and we can help you or your loved ones regain that control with a sense of relief and empowerment.

While the consequences of sex addiction are bad, being a sex addict does not make a person intrinsically bad.

Sex addiction has a detrimental impact on the addict’s behavior.  They often find themselves crossing someone else’s comfort boundaries, manipulating or coercing their partner, violating trust and intimacy, and in some rare cases exercising adultery or violence. This behavior has profoundly negative consequences on the addict and their loves ones.

Here’s a promise…

We at City Gate will not judge your personhood. We recognize that most individuals who manifest as sex addicts are acting out unresolved trauma. A secondary diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often arises once the obsessions and behavior are being managed. That is when the deeper emotions that have been denied, buried or ignored are allowed to surface in a safe therapeutic environment to begin the healing of the root issues of the compulsive sexual behavior.

Yes. Even those who are celibate, abstinent, or have never had sex can be sexually obsessed but not physically acting out the behavior with others. Pornography is the most frequent outlet for those who are focused on sexual fantasy and self-gratification, and it can be extremely detrimental to their emotional, psychological, and phsyical health in the short-term and long-term.

Additionally, it is very common for individuals with compulsive sexual behaviors to experience periods of binging and purging. An example would be an excessive period of viewing hard core pornography with masturbation. Then the shadow of shame and guilt would scare the sex addict into a self-determined frenzy of purging materials, deleting bookmarks, canceling subscriptions, deleting contact information, blocking websites, etc. and promises to self, “I am not going to waste my time on that trash”, which is followed by a period of relief in abstinence from the compulsive behavior. Sometimes days, weeks, months, or even years will pass without the unwanted behavior. However, if the compulsive behavior is not assessed and understood by a certified professional, and positive coping behaviors are not established and practiced consistently, the sexual abstinence will often be eroded, or a potentially worse substituted obsessive behavior will surface as the primary coping and avoidance behavior. Other obsessions/compulsions can be work, binge eating, drinking and drugging, gambling, gaming, shopping, spending, binge-watching TV/movies, or other pleasure seeking behaviors. Underlying mental health issues commonly surface – depression, social or generalized anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, mood disorder, personality disorders.