The TC &sexual addiction

1. The TC &sexual addiction Rod Mullen & Naya Arbiter Amity Foundation USA 14th EFTC Conference--Prague

2. Addiction • Addiction = a behavior that is repeated compulsively (e.g.. can’t voluntarily stop the behavior) that is harmful to self and others • From recent studies of the brain, it has become clear that ALL addictions follow similar neural pathways in the brain, and stimulate the same centers

3. WHAT IS SEXUAL ADDICTION? • A PROGRESSIVE INTIMACY DISORDER, CHARACTERIZED BY SEXUAL THOUGHTS AND ACTS….. • OVER TIME THE ADDICT HAS TO INTENSIFY THE ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOR TO ACHIEVE THE SAME RESULTS Dr. Mark Gold, PsychCentral -

4. Sexual addiction is not sexual desire nor defined by the type of sexual act performed, or even by the frequency of sexual activity…. A compulsive use of sex to address non-sexual emotional needs…. Frequently indicated by the willingness of an addict to suffer enormous consequences for engaging in sex.

5. IS OUR WESTERN SOCIETY SUFFERING FROM A PANDEMIC OF INTIMACY DISORDERS? • The pornography industry rivals • Big oil, • Arms dealing • Illegal drugs • Note: In U.S. sales from adult channels in hotel rooms have generated more than twice as much revenue than mini-bars

7. INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY • Three Clicks: • Heterosexual Homosexual Transexual • Child, Teen, Pregnant Women , • Incest, Chat Rooms, Web Cam views • Granny Porn ( 65 to 90 year old women rape and bondage particularly popular) • Bukkake porn – from ancient Japanese practice of of humiliating Unfaithful women by holding her as a public captive and ejaculating in her face– today a large niche group of porn

8. PRISON PORN • In the U.S. prison system there are multiple men and women who make their prison “living” on the yard by writing pornography stories that they sell to other inmates. Different authors have a “menu” of specialties that can be ordered

9. Name to Number - - - Name to Object • Prison systems people migrate from name to number • Sex Trade, pornography, prostitution, sex clubs and more the migration is from name to object • Do “sex addicts” in high end treatment facilities understand that what gets them “off” often means long incarcerations for street workers after several arrests? • The TC can help with this problem ---

10. Sex Industry • Estimates for the US alone are (2007 numbers) $13 billion—about 50% of that is from legal pornography sites, magazines, videos, etc. • And it grows exponentially • To avoid regulation many pornography sites are hosted out of the US in countries where there is no regulation. • The Council on Europe estimates that sex trafficking worldwide brings in over $42 billion per year

11. AA • Alcoholic Anonymous began as a way to address alcoholism—the founder, Bill Wilson, was what we would characterize today as a sex addict—but this issue was never addressed in AA

12. TCs & Addictions • TCs in the US began as a response to an epidemic of substance abuse (mainly heroin)—and many have expanded to deal with other addictions: gambling, eating disorders, etc. • But few, if any, have addressed sexual addiction, nor in particular, what some have termed “the drug of the new millennium,” internet pornography (the origin of the word is “to tell about female slaves).

13. In the TC • Trainings, seminars, and small gender specific groups with faculty to discuss pornography—if the faculty are involved in using prostitutes, in other inappropriate sexual behaviors, and/or using pornography whether the students “know” this explicitly or not, a climate is created in the TC which condones these behaviors. • R.D. Laing---the field of lies

14. In the TC • Once the faculty have been honest about their own sexual issues, understand the horrendus consequences of sex trafficing and pornongrapy, and are unified on these issues… • Then they can encourage an atmosphere of openess and disclosure in groups, and can also do seminars and use written and video media available to discuss internet porn and other related issues.

15. Victims • The porn industry is huge—and works very hard to promote a message that pornography is “victimless.” Just a way to vicariously enjoy sex. It is all “fantasy”, no one is hurt. • But in the TC we are dealing with the victims of sexual trauma every day. • At Amity over 50% of the women’s first sexual experience was either molestation or rape—and the amount of molestation amongst men are not much lower

16. Victims • While our women were disclosing their sexual traumas—molestations, rapes, victimizations, the men were largely silent. • The question we began with was, “how interesting that we have so many rapees in our community,but no rapists?”