Patrick Carnes

Last updated
Patrick Carnes
Born1944 (age 7879)
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationPhD
OccupationCounselor

Patrick Carnes (born 1944) is an American proponent of the viewpoint that some sexual behavior is an addiction. [1] According to CBS News, he popularized the term sex addiction. [2] He created the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP), as well as numerous addiction treatment facilities, and created the CSAT certification.

Contents

Education and career

Carnes received a Ph.D. in counselor education and organizational development from the University of Minnesota in 1980. He was awarded the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH), formerly known as National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity (NCSAC). Each year, SASH bestows a Carnes Award to deserving researchers and clinicians who have made outstanding contributions to the field of sexual medicine. [3]

He has worked in the field of sexual addiction in a number of other capacities, including as clinical director for sexual disorder services at The Meadows in Wickenburg, Arizona, editor-in-chief of Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention (official journal of the National Council of Sexual Addiction/Compulsivity), board member of the National Council of Sexual Addiction/Compulsivity organization, advisor on the national advisory board of the American Academy of Health Care Providers in the Addictive Disorders. [4] Carnes is the Founder and Senior Consultant of the Gentle Path at The Meadows program located in Wickenburg, Arizona. [5]

Carnes is the founder of the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals [6]

Theories and criticism

Carnes attributes the source of the addictions to the addict's belief system. He believes that a fundamental momentum for the addiction is provided by "certain core beliefs" that are wrong or incorrect. "Generally, addicts do not perceive themselves as worthwhile persons. Nor do they believe that other people would care for them or meet their needs if everything was known about them, including the addiction. Finally, they believe that sex is their most important need. Sex is what makes isolation bearable. If you do not trust people, one thing that is true about sex – and alcohol, food, gambling, and risk – is that it always does what it promises--for the moment. Thus, as in our definition of addiction, the relationship is with sex – and not people." [7]

Carnes' idea of sexual addiction is controversial. [8] Carnes acknowledges that "the term sexual addiction does not appear in DSM-IV. In fact, the word addiction itself does not appear." [9] He continues, saying that "Each edition of this book represents a consensus at the time of publication about what constitutes mental disorders. Each subsequent edition has reflected changes in understanding. The DSM's system is, therefore, best viewed as a 'work in progress rather than the 'bible'." [9] The DSM-5, published in 2013, did not include sexual addiction "as the research on these behaviors was considered to be insufficient." [10]

Books

Related Research Articles

Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased libido. It is controversial whether it should be included as a clinical diagnosis used by mental healthcare professionals. Nymphomania and satyriasis were terms previously used for the condition in women and men, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codependency</span> Type of relationship where one person enables the others self-destructive tendencies

In sociology, codependency is a theory that attempts to explain imbalanced relationships where one person enables another person's self-destructive behavior such as addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement.

Pornography addiction is the controversial application of an addiction model to the use of pornography. Pornography may be part of compulsive sexual behavior with negative consequences to one's physical, mental, social, or financial well-being. While the World Health Organization's ICD-11 (2022) has recognized compulsive sexual behaviour disorder (CSBD) as an "impulsive control disorder", CSBD is not an addiction, and the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5 (2013) and the DSM-5-TR (2022) do not classify compulsive pornography consumption as a mental disorder or a behavioral addiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexaholics Anonymous</span>

Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) founded in 1979 is one of several twelve-step programs for compulsive sexual behavior based on the original twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. SA takes its place among various twelve-step groups that seek recovery from sexual addiction: Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Sexual Compulsives Anonymous and Sexual Recovery Anonymous. Collectively these groups are referred to as "S" groups since all their acronyms begin with that letter: SA, SAA, SLAA, SCA, SRA.

Virtual sex is sexual activity where two or more people gather together via some form of communications equipment to arouse each other, often by the means of transmitting sexually explicit messages. Virtual sex describes the phenomenon, no matter the communications equipment used.

According to proponents of the concept, sexual addiction, also known as sex addiction, is a state characterized by compulsive participation or engagement in sexual activity, particularly sexual intercourse, despite negative consequences. The concept is contentious; neither of the two major mainstream medical categorization systems recognise sex addiction as a real medical condition, instead categorizing such behavior under labels such as compulsive sexual behavior.

Sexual anorexia is a term coined in 1975 by psychologist Nathan Hare to describe a fear of or deep aversion to sexual activity. It is a pathological loss of "appetite" for romantic-sexual interaction, often the result of a fear of intimacy to the point that the person has severe anxiety surrounding sexual activity and emotional aspects. The term largely exists in a colloquial sense and is not presently classified as a disorder in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual.

Internet sex addiction, also known as cybersex addiction, has been proposed as a sexual addiction characterized by virtual Internet sexual activity that causes serious negative consequences to one's physical, mental, social, and/or financial well-being. It may also be considered a subset of the theorized Internet addiction disorder. Internet sex addiction manifests various behaviours: reading erotic stories; viewing, downloading or trading online pornography; online activity in adult fantasy chat rooms; cybersex relationships; masturbation while engaged in online activity that contributes to one's sexual arousal; the search for offline sexual partners and information about sexual activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual Compulsives Anonymous</span> Twelve-step program

Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA) is a twelve-step program for people who want to stop having compulsive sex. SCA founding is attributed variously to 1982 in New York City and to 1973 in Los Angeles. Although the fellowship originally sought to address issues of sexual compulsion among gay and bisexual men, and this is still the fellowships predominant demographic, today the program is LGBT friendly, open to all sexual orientations, and there is an increasing number of women and heterosexual men participating. SCA meetings are most likely to be held in urban areas with larger gay and bisexual male populations. The majority of members are white, but vary in age and socioeconomic background. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop having compulsive sex.

Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) is a twelve-step program founded in 1977 for people who want to stop their addictive sexual behavior. There also exists a group known as COSA, for those who have been impacted by others' sexual addiction.

Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) is a twelve-step program for people recovering from sex addiction and love addiction. SLAA was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1976, by a member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Though he had been a member of AA for many years, he repeatedly acted out and was serially unfaithful to his wife. He founded SLAA as an attempt to stop his compulsive sexual and "romantic" behavior. SLAA is also sometimes known as the Augustine Fellowship, because early members saw many of their shared symptoms described by St. Augustine of Hippo in his work Confessions. COSLAA is another twelve-step fellowship created to support the family members and friends of sex and love addicts.

Behavioral addiction is a form of addiction that involves a compulsion to engage in a rewarding non-substance-related behavior – sometimes called a natural reward – despite any negative consequences to the person's physical, mental, social or financial well-being. Addiction canonically refers to substance abuse; however, the term's connotation has been expanded to include behaviors that may lead to a reward since the 1990s. A gene transcription factor known as ΔFosB has been identified as a necessary common factor involved in both behavioral and drug addictions, which are associated with the same set of neural adaptations in the reward system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Love addiction</span>

Love addiction is a proposed model of pathological passion-related behavior involving the feeling of falling and being in love. A medical review of related behaviors in animals and humans concluded that current medical evidence does not have definitions or criteria on an addiction model for love addiction, but there are reported similarities to substance dependence, such as euphoria and desire in the stimuli, as well as anhedonia and negative levels of mood when away from the stimuli, intrusive thoughts on it, and disregard for adverse consequences. There has never been a reference to love addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a compendium of mental disorders and diagnostic criteria published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Gentle Path at The Meadows is a program for recovery from sex addiction in Wickenburg, Arizona run by Meadows Behavioral Healthcare. It is based on the work of Patrick Carnes, namely his "Thirty Task model" for sex addiction recovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandra Katehakis</span>

Alexandra Katehakis is the Clinical Director of Center for Healthy Sex in Los Angeles and author of Erotic Intelligence: Igniting Hot, Healthy Sex While in Recovery from Sex Addiction,Sex Addiction as Affect Dysregulation: A Neurobiologically Informed Holistic Treatment,Sexual Reflections: A Workbook for Designing and Celebrating Your Sexual Health Plan, co-author of the daily meditation book Mirror of Intimacy Daily Reflections on Emotional and Erotic Intelligence, and contributing author of the clinical text Making Advances: A Comprehensive Guide for Treating Female Sex and Love Addicts. Katehakis is a clinical supervisor at American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) and clinical supervisor and member of the teaching faculty for the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP) a national certifying body for sex addiction therapists. She is a regular contributor to Psychology Today and The Huffington Post, as well as a panelist at sexuality conferences and public events.

Robert Weiss is an American author, educator, and clinical expert in the treatment of adult intimacy disorders and related addictions. Weiss currently serves as Chief Clinical Officer of Seeking Integrity.

Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder (CSBD), also known as hypersexual disorder, is a pattern of behavior involving intense preoccupation with sexual fantasies and behaviours that cause distress, are inappropriately used to cope with stress, cannot be voluntarily curtailed, and risk or cause harm to oneself or others. This disorder can also cause impairment in social, occupational or other important functions.

The International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP) is one of the most well known for-profit organizations that provides training and certification for licensed and interned mental health professionals who want to treat sexual addiction and compulsive behavior in their clients. Despite the concept of sexual addiction being contentious in the fields of psychology, medicine, and neuroscience, and was not included in the DSM as of 2017, the need for this type of certification has been demonstrated over several decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Healthy Sex</span> Community therapy center in Los Angeles, California

Center for Healthy Sex (CHS) is a community therapy center in Los Angeles that specializes in the treatment of sexual dysfunction, sexual anorexia, sex addiction, and love addiction. The Center is located on Santa Monica Boulevard near Overland Avenue bordering the neighborhoods of Century City and Westwood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Maltz</span> Sex therapist

Wendy Maltz is an American sex therapist, psychotherapist, author, educator, and clinical social worker. She is an expert on the sexual repercussions of sexual abuse, understanding women's sexual fantasies, treating pornography-related problems, and promoting healthy sexuality. She has taught at the University of Oregon and, up until her retirement in 2016 from providing counseling services, was co-director with her husband, Larry Maltz, of Maltz Counseling Associates therapy practice in Eugene, Oregon.

References

  1. Goleman, Daniel (October 16, 1984). "Some Sexual Behavior Viewed as an Addiction". The New York Times . pp. Cl, C9. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
  2. "The Stories Behind Sex Addiction". cbsnews.com. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  3. Carnes biography in a treatment center site
  4. "Patrick Carnes, Ph.D." hazelden.org. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  5. Brown, Sarah. "Inpatient Treatment Help For Sex Addiction Therapy - What is Counseling for Sex Addiction, Rehab, Sexual Addiction". gentlepathmeadows.com. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  6. "About International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals | IITAP". www.iitap.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-29. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  7. Patrick Carnes, 2001, Out of the shadows: understanding sexual addiction, Hazelden: Center City, MN. p. 16
  8. Dennis Thompson, The 'Reality' of Sex Addiction Stirs Debate, May 12, 2010
  9. 1 2 "Understanding Sexual Addiction" (PDF). SIECUS Report . The Debate: Sexual Addiction and Compulsion. 31 (5): 5. June–July 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2015. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
  10. Grant, Jon E.; Chamberlain, Samuel R. (August 2016). "Expanding the definition of addiction: DSM-5 vs. ICD-11". CNS Spectrums. 21 (4): 300–303. doi:10.1017/S1092852916000183. ISSN   1092-8529. PMC   5328289 . PMID   27151528.