Although the American Psychiatric Association (APA) ultimately decided not to include Hypersexual Disorder in the upcoming DSM-5, we chose to dedicate a special edition to this model because of the...

We identified risk factors before age 18 for exhibitionism and urges to engage in exhibitionism. Sharing a tub bath with a female and allowing a female partner to look at his genitals appeared to serve the function of conditioning experiences that were both pleasurable and sexually arousing. Being allowed to be nude in mother's presence indicated mother's approval for engaging in the exhibitionism. The findings were consistent with a conditioning model in which exhibition-like experiences can initiate a vicious cycle that can result in a sexual addiction with powerful urges to engage in exhibitionism that are triggered by dysphoric feelings.

Thirty Days to Hope & Freedom from Sexual Addiction: The Essential Guide to Beginning Recovery and Relapse Prevention by Milton S. Magness, D. Min is a workbook-like guide for sexual addicts and fo...

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo may appear to be merely a simple children's book, however, cloaked in its simplicity is significant clinical value. While not precisely the...

This study presents a single case of an adult middle-class male, M., whom I saw professionally as a psychotherapist in an Israeli mental health community service center. He briefly used cyberporn sites, moved to cybersex sites and rapidly precipitated into hyper-activity (matching criteria for addiction) to actual sexual encounters with call girls advertising on websites. In its discussion, this article proposes a Jungian approach to the interpretation of the case study of M. In particular it uses two central concepts in Jungian theory: the meaning of the second half of life, and the archetype of the “shadow.” It is shown that this apparent case of mid-life depression in fact concealed “possession” of raw repressed material of the shadow that ultimately led to sexual acting out and the abrupt termination of therapy.

Infidelity is a common presenting problem in marriage and family therapy, and infidelity secrets are its common companion issue. When confronted with infidelity secrets, therapists encounter tension between the offending spouse's privacy and confidentiality rights and the non-offending spouse's right to relationship choice, which entails access to all relationship-relevant information. Professional ethical codes for relational therapy affirm both confidentiality considerations and equal advocacy for all persons in therapy. A relational therapy practice policy about disclosure of infidelity secrets is both critical and simultaneously fraught with tensions among competing accountabilities. A survey design was employed to investigate therapists’ attitudes concerning the relational impact of infidelity secrets and their judgments concerning how they should be handled in relational therapy. Findings reveal that relational therapists’ clinical judgment is that healing and attachment security are best promoted by disclosure, and that therapists support facilitated disclosure of infidelity in a context of informed, voluntary consent.

Since 1977, when Dr. George Engel authored, “The Need for A New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine,” (Engel, 1977) the biopsychosocial model has advanced our understanding of diseases and t...

Is it the supportive communication received through 12-step processes that enables addicts to change their behavior, or is it that addicts who are motivated to change their behavior diligently attend to 12-step processes? A retrospective two-wave panel design was employed to address these competing perspectives. Higher levels of meeting attendance and sponsor work at an earlier period in participants’ lives were associated with lower levels of sexual compulsivity at a later period in their lives. However, time-one meeting attendance and sponsor work did not explain interindividual change in sexual compulsivity from time-one to time-two, a stricter test of the validity of cross-lagged associations. Options for methodological improvements to increase the power of future inquiries are outlined.