Sex Addiction as Affect Dysregulation: A Neurobiologically Informed Holistic Treatment

Sex Addiction as Affect Dysregulation examines sex addiction in line with the new definition of addiction as a primary, chronic brain disease. Treatment implications are explained and case histories demonstrate the validity of a holistic treatment approach.

Neuroaffective science — studying the integrated development of the body, brain, and mind — has revealed mechanisms linking psychological and biological factors of mental disorders, including addiction. Indeed, its paradigm-shifting theoretical umbrella demonstrated that substance and behavioral dependencies share identical neurobiological workings, and thus that problematic repetitive behaviors are genuine addictions—a state increasingly understood as a chronic brain disorder. Clinical experience strongly suggests that sex addiction (SA) treatment informed by affective neuroscience — the specialty of Alexandra Katehakis — proves profoundly transformative.

Katehakis's relational protocol, presented here, blends neurobiology with psychology to accomplish full recovery. Her Psychobiological Approach to Sex Addiction Treatment (PASAT) joins therapist and patient through a relationally-based psychotherapy — a holistic, dyadic dance that calls on the body, brain, and mind of both.

Written with clarity and compassion, this book integrates cutting-edge research, case studies, verbatim session records, and patient writings and art. Katehakis explicates neurophysiological, psychological, and cultural forces priming and maintaining SA, then details how her innovative treatment restores patients' interpersonal, sexual, and spiritual relationality.