Welcome to the Sex, Love & Relationship Addiction Home Page

Welcome to the TRN Sex Addiction, Love Addiction & Relationship Addiction home page. From here you can access the Sex, Love & Relationships chat room and forums,  read articles on education or relapse prevention and check for any Sex, Love & Relationships specific TRN Events.

An Introduction to Sex, Love & Relationships Addiction

Healthy sex is a fulfilling expression of love and affection and a way of achieving deeper emotional intimacy. Yet, for some, there is a driving compulsion to engage in sexual activity excessively and harmfully. An addiction to sex means we may find it impossible to control or postpone our sexual feelings and actions. We may go on sexual binges, striving to satisfy an insatiable sexual craving. Sex may even become our purpose for living.
 
Love addicts, on the other hand, obsessively seek out romantic partners as a way of gaining the emotional stability they themselves lack. We might attach ourselves to others and either take care of them, or become helpless and cared for as a way of controlling our partners and avoiding abandonment. We are likely to have a very low self-esteem, to lack self-identity and fear change.
 
What causes us to become sex or love addicts is often rooted in childhood and adolescence. Early trauma, deprivation, neglect and possibly depression may be factors. Up to 60% of people with sex addiction were abused by someone before they reached adulthood. Longstanding relationship and intimacy problems are also common.
 
The consequences of these addictions are as severe as those of any other addiction. They impact all areas of our lives: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and financial. Admitting that there is a problem can be even harder for the sex addict because of the intense shame that often accompanies this addiction.
 
Therapy and treatment are potentially very helpful. The recovery process is similar to that of substance addictions and involves identifying and changing painful, damaging behaviour.