Quotes from Robert Weiss

Hours spent compulsively masturbating to online pornography or pursuing potential sex partners on dating or social media sites and apps are hours not spent developing one's career, nurturing one's spouse and/or children, hanging out with friends, enjoying hobbies, and engaging in various other necessary forms of self-care.

again potentially epigenetics). For instance, abused and/or neglected children have an incredibly high risk for addiction (and other adult-life psychological issues) regardless of genetic influences. Furthermore, the more times a child is traumatized, the greater the likelihood of adverse reactions, such as addiction, later in life. One study found that survivors of chronic childhood trauma (four or

family, tribe, religion, etc.17 Sadly, for many people the experience of trauma is chronic, that is—repeated and layered over time. This is often referred to as complex trauma. Complex trauma is especially problematic when it occurs within early family life, which is an

interpersonal trauma subtype

Sadly, without some form of therapy or intervention, individuals like Denise often don't make the connection between their childhood trauma and their adult-life sexual problems. Due to this lack of understanding and association, many of these folks think of themselves as

broken" or simply as "bad people," using their adult-life sexual acting out as proof of how unlovable they really are. They simply don't understand that their upbringing was lacking and left them without a positive sense of self or needed life skills, and that their problematic sexual behaviors are an adaptive response to what they experienced.

The simple truth is addicts of all types typically report multiple instances and forms of early-life neglect, abuse, shame, and family dysfunction.18 In one survey asking sex addicts about their childhoods,