Substance/Sex Addiction: Essential Tasks in Early Recovery –

Dr. David Fawcett

If you use sex drugs, it’s important to address and stabilize any emergencies you may have. You must ensure that you are safe and that your health and life are not put at risk. This may mean visiting your doctor for a physical or the emergency room if you have a medical emergency. If you can’t stop using or don’t do well, it may also mean hospitalization or intensive outpatient treatment. If your substance of choice is a stimulant drug, you may experience paranoia and other psychotic symptoms that will require evaluation and stabilization.

In addition to the obvious and immediate measures, you should:

• Practice self-care.
• Learn to manage triggers and cravings.
• Learn to regulate your emotions without falling into addiction.
• Build a support network.

Manage triggers and cravings

In this article, I will discuss the second step in recovering from paired substance/sex addiction: managing drug and sexual triggers and cravings.

First, you must develop a comprehensive list of potential triggers. It can be more helpful to identify which situations have been most triggering recently. This will give you some concrete materials to start making plans. As more triggers come to mind, you should add them to your list. Basic ways to deal with triggers and cravings include:

• avoid: The most straightforward way to control appetite during early recovery is to avoid triggers as much as possible. Sometimes this is easier said than done, as many inevitable things in life will trigger you to want to use and act on them. The most common are people, places, things, situations, and times of day, although almost anything can be a trigger, from songs to smells to physical sensations. Behind many of these external triggers are internal emotional, mental and psychological states that drive you to compulsively seek drugs and sex. If you are triggered, you must be able to recognize what is happening and take action as quickly as possible. When triggered, you may begin to feel like you’re in a bubble. The world disappears, you become hyperfocused, and your heart races. You may also feel clammy and start engaging in ritualistic substances/sex. It is crucial to recognize the thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physical sensations experienced before and when triggered.
• Transfer: If you can’t completely avoid your triggers, using distraction techniques can be helpful. You can distract yourself by doing some physical activity, such as walking, exercising, or taking deep breaths. If your situation increases your neediness, Then you should leave and go somewhere safe. Eat something, drink something, do something—anything that will help you redirect the craving energy. Different distraction and stress relief methods work for different people. Find out what works for you.
• share: Another effective way to deal with cravings is to talk to someone about them when they happen. Don’t wait to reach out. Calling someone and talking can not only distract you from your cravings, but can also reduce the anxiety and vulnerability that cravings bring. Who can you call when you are triggered? Once you have a list of people to call, practice using the phone ahead of time, especially if you’re having a good day. Cultivating these supportive relationships not only makes it easier for you to pick up the phone when the mood strikes, but it can also help reduce the feelings of loneliness and disconnection that make you want to use your phone and have sex.
• Riding the wind and waves: Going with the flow is another way to deal with triggers and cravings. Riding the wave requires allowing the trigger or craving to occur, peak, and disappear. Don’t fight it, don’t give in to the idea or drive to use, but sit back and accept it. This means paying attention to experiences that are triggered and desired. Identify specifically which part of your body is experiencing this condition. How does it feel, how strong is it, how does it move or change? Practicing mindfulness ahead of time can be very helpful in developing this strategy.
• Beware of euphoric memories: One of the things that can cause or intensify cravings is engaging in euphoric recollections. Euphoric recall occurs when you selectively remember only the pleasurable aspects of your addiction. You might start fantasizing about cocaine and sex workers, encountering chemical sexual urges for the first time, or the cascading and dissociative effects of having sex while taking drugs or marijuana. You can throw some cold water on the process by talking about the negative and painful aspects of your addiction and its consequences. Basically, you need to tamp down the flames of euphoric memories. Keeping an index card or note on your phone listing all the negative consequences of your substances/sex can be helpful in this regard.
• Challenge automatic negative thoughts: It is important to identify some of the thoughts that automatically come to mind when you are triggered so that you can challenge those thoughts. For example, you might have an idea that you want to use, and you always feel that way, so you might as well just do it. You can challenge this thought by talking to yourself, consciously saying to yourself: “Although I want to use now, I know this feeling will pass. This thought will not last forever, and I will be grateful and grateful that I did not pay Actions.” This can also be done by keeping a journal, which slows down your thinking but also provides you with an opportunity to talk yourself out of relapsing.

The basic element of all these interventions is to be aware in advance that it is normal to be triggered and experience cravings. While it’s uncomfortable to feel cravings and the desire to act, immediately reminding yourself that you can overcome it and take action to help yourself stay sober will greatly reduce the likelihood that you’ll use it.

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If you or a loved one is struggling with sex, porn, or substance/sex addiction, Seeking Integrity can help. In addition to residential rehab, we offer low-cost online workgroups for male sex addicts and male porn addicts new to recovery. Click here to learn about our Sex Addiction Task Force. Click here to learn about our Porn Addiction Task Force.

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