Guiding Principles
These position papers from Bethesda Workshops help professionals by offering clinical insights, treatment approaches, and best practices for addressing sexual addiction and trauma. They serve as a reliable resource for education, guidance, and deeper understanding of complex client issues from a faith-based, therapeutic perspective.
Length of Treatment
Recovery from sexual addiction is a lengthy process. Short-term therapy is insufficient, for sure. Patrick Carnes, Ph.D., asserts it takes three to five years to fully recover. At Bethesda Workshops, we’ve found that those who come through our whole program – an individual workshop for each spouse plus the couples’ workshop – cut that time in at least half.
We often tell couples, “You can do this the hard way or the harder way – there’s not an easy way.” The Bethesda Workshops program greatly accelerates the recovery process, and most people find significant improvement, both personally and within their coupleship, within six to twelve months if they’re willing to do the work.
Life-Long Recovery Plan
Recovery is a forever process, ongoing and unending. It’s like our spiritual journey of transformation, which certainly doesn’t stop when we accept Christ as our personal savior. Recovery becomes a way of life, which again, is like our spiritual walk.
Many people find benefit from life-long attendance at recovery groups, at least occasionally. It’s like church attendance, where someone goes for fellowship with other Christians as well as worship. Going to a Twelve Step or faith-based recovery group becomes a tool for healthy living instead of a safeguard against acting out or dealing with someone who is.
Giving back is an important activity for someone in recovery. Offering help and hope to someone new on the journey is an act of gratitude and redeems the pain of sexual addiction for both addicts and partners.
