Help

[asexaddict]

 I am an 18-year-old girl and I have recently been diagnosed with sex addiction by an experienced therapist. I come from a supportive loving family, my parents are active members in SAA and COSA and their addictions have never lead to physical or sexual abuse, I do not have a childhood with scarring sexual experiences, in fact I lead a sheltered

Comments

[mustangholly]

Welcome to the group. I had a very similar upbringing, you are not alone. I think coming to the SAA LJ is a good start. We are like a group meeting with out the face to face. I would disagree with your father, I have never felt unsafe at my meetings. However I attend SLAA, (sex and love). Maybe that would be a good place to start, they are similar programs, but more females. Keep up the journaling, continue to read literature and go to meetings when you are ready.

[dasenergi]

I agree with mustangholly. Go to a meeting. If not SAA or SA, then SLAA. And if not that, how about Al-Anon? I'm a believer that something is better than nothing. Also, get a sponsor; someone experienced who can lead you through the steps; someone you're comfortable with.

You're asking for advice. You say, "...however I still don't know how to cut my destructive habits away. I want to rid myself of shame and guilt and I don't know how to do that."

First off, you have to know what it is you're "cutting" away. In SAA we have the three circles to help us identify that. Here's some information on them:

The Three CirclesThe three circles is a simple tool we use to define our sobriety for ourselves; to define what a healthy sexuality for ourselves can mean. We sort through all our behaviors and organize them according to whether they are addictive (inner circle), behavior that can lead towards our addiction (middle circle), or healthy behaviors that keep us sober (outer circle). It's not always easy to tell if something should be in the inner