Do You Have Withdrawal Symptoms From Your Sex Addiction?
Hypersexuality, popularly known as sex addiction, comprises persistent and repetitive sexual urges, fantasies, or behavior. Recovering from this syndrome has never been easy.
Although hypersexuality is quite different from drug and substance abuse, their withdrawal journeys look similar. The process is quite difficult, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. You only need to be aware of the withdrawal symptoms and how to manage them.
Sex Addiction Withdrawal Symptoms
There are several misconceptions about hypersexuality, some of which are damaging, like: ‘sex addiction is not a real addiction.’ Compulsive (or hypersexual) sexual behavior is a legitimate construct that calls for professional treatment to ensure recovery and rebuilding of healthy and safe relationships.
Withdrawal symptoms are different for each patient, but the shared experience is one of the ‘waves’ of physical and emotional symptoms. The longer someone has used sex (pornography, sexual affairs, masturbation) to regulate a negative mood, the more complex the recovery process.
While you may not easily notice emotional withdrawal symptoms from your partner, physical withdrawal symptoms are prevalent. The most common ones include:
- Frequent sexual activities with multiple partners
- Neglecting personal or professional responsibilities due to sexual urges and behavior
- Spending a lot of time watching pornography, visiting sex-related venues, and searching for potential sexual partners
- Feeling ashamed or guilty after sexual activities but unable to stop
What can you do if you notice your partner is struggling with sex addiction? If you see some of these symptoms, you can help your partner seek help.
Withdrawal Symptoms Within 48 Hours
Withdrawal symptoms start soon after desisting from hypersexuality. The following are the symptoms that often appear first:
- Restlessness and boredom
- Anxiety and stress
- Mood swings, hypersensitivity, and elevated emotions
- Irrational thoughts
- Insomnia
- Persistent headaches
- Irritability
- Cravings for sex-related activities
- Exhaustion, brain fog, and lack of focus and concentration
1-3 Weeks
The symptoms will become less intense as time passes, but the following emotional symptoms may remain constant:
- Loneliness
- Persistent sexual cravings
- Feeling withdrawn
- Extremely low-energy levels and low-personal and professional productivity
- Lack of focus
1 Month and Beyond
The symptoms beyond a month start diminishing markedly if a person remains in treatment and desists from the problem behavior. Some symptoms still linger but will go away eventually. These might include:
- Anxiety or depression
- Overwhelming emotional behaviors
- Stronger cravings for sexual activities, porn, and other sex-related content
- Insomnia
Symptoms such as lower energy, overwhelming emotions, loneliness, and insomnia might persist for up to 2 years. Managing them, however, is much easier because, by that time, coping responses taught in treatment will come to the fore.
Create healthy boundaries
A hypersexual person may have to cut off friends with whom he engaged in sexual activity; he may also abstain from pornography use and masturbation for several months to ‘clean the machine.’ Treatment can help patients get through these challenging times.
Establish the why
Remember what started you on the journey to recovery. Remember the pain in your loved one’s eyes; remember the questions your children asked; remember the guilt and shame you felt at the end of a particular sexual behavior; remember that your goal is to ‘act like a gentleman’ in the community. Treatment can help establish why you have made your decisions, motivations, emotions, and successes.
Have accountable partners
Someone engaging in hypersexual behavior is rarely ‘checked’ by a friend who may be concerned. Unlike alcohol or drug abuse, sexual behavior is almost always performed alone, without witnesses. You can, however, inform friends of your “habit” and that you intend to rehabilitate yourself. Friends can be made aware of “triggers” for hypersexuality and act as accountability partners.
Mind your thoughts
Sexual urges begin in the mind. If you can learn to let thoughts “drift in and then drift out,” without focusing on them or becoming upset, you can learn to “ride the wave” of the urge until its intensity lessens. We also practice the “3-second rule” when focusing on a woman’s appearance (remember: we act like gentlemen in the community). Treatment can help with this.
Seek professional help
Seeking professional help may be the most effective means of rehabilitation. Fully-trained and certified experts will help you recognize behavioral and psychological symptoms and help you navigate them by tracing them back to their roots. If we can heal the pain caused by compulsive behavior, the appetite to engage in compulsive behavior will diminish. We are here to help you, and we want you to have the healthiest life possible. Treatment is not just a way to cope but also a path to getting better.
Signs of Successful Treatment
You got this; remember, we are here for you. There is a ceasing of symptoms on the horizon, ready to welcome you with open arms and hearken to a new lifestyle. Learning to love generously is the ultimate goal. If we can help our patients do that, pathological behavior will automatically become a thing of the past. Put old ghosts to rest, find peace, and love generously.
Good News About Sex Addiction Recovery in California
At Intrapsychic in California, we have a professional team led by Dr. Reavis, committed to ensuring you understand yourself and your past by becoming reflective. Contact us today to enjoy our quality and professional lifestyle knowledge.