Sexual Addiction Recovery
By Kevin Leapley, MA, LPC, CSAT on Friday, November 27th, 2015 in Sexual Addiction. No Comments
“The pursuit of purity is not about the suppression of lust, but about the reorientation of one’s life to a larger goal.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Often in recovery from sexual addiction, the goal is to stop the out of control sexual behaviors and to maintain sexual sobriety. I believe this is a healthy and good goal but I also maintain that it still misses the mark. This may sound odd, but sex is not the problem when it comes to sexual addiction. This is also the case for food addiction. Food is not the problem when it comes to people eating too much or too little. The real problem goes deeper than the exterior issues of a person’s struggle.
In a session with new clients, I often use past movies to illustrate the work that he will need to commit his life to if recovery is to work. One movie I reference as an analogy to recovery is “The Matrix”. Throughout the movie, the main character “Leo” is struggling with his identity. The movie begins with him as a programmer that produces illegal programs for sale and he is also an average programmer at a large firm. He is confronted with the idea that he may be the “One” that can save humanity from living in a false world created by machines. Morpheus offers him two pills…a blue pill and a red pill. If he takes the blue pill, he will wake up the next morning and continue in his life without change. If he takes the red pill, he will begin a journey that takes him down a “rabbit hole” and face the world outside of the false Matrix.
When a man enters recovery, he is at a crossroads in his life. He can continue on the road of escape through his addiction or take the road of recovery, which requires him to reorient his life to a larger and different goal. Staying sober is only the prerequisite to working recovery. Leo took the red pill and his journey eventually led to a reality of seeing himself as someone very special and he had no desire to return to his former life. Recovery does the same for any man or woman that works it. It leads to a reality that he or she is a uniquely made and very special person, created by a loving God for a wonderful purpose. The goal of life in recovery is to live life to a larger goal of serving others and God. He or she will never want to return to the false counterfeit life of addiction.
Please make the choice to begin your recovery and healing today. Call our center at 303-933-5800 and request a counseling session with one of our highly trained and experienced counselors.
Kevin Leapley, MA, LPC, CSAT
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