At Harmony Place Monterey we treat both Eating Disorders and Sexual Addiction in two separate tracks. This is how they are similar, but different:
- Overcontrol of a natural function eventually leads to out of control. Restriction leads to binging.
- Emotional dysregulation leads to poor affect tolerance, and anorexia from loneliness and shame leads to self-destructive restricting and binging.
- The absence of an integrated sense of self leads to a lack of self-cohesion and dissociated parts of self take executive control.
- Disorganized attachment in early infancy contributes to not being able to use self or others as a resource for self-soothing.
- Each addiction is a reenactment of core schemas related to shame, powerlessness, and disconnection.
- Whenever one’s in an addictive behavior, they are out of control but feel an illusion of control.
- The core issues of each have their origin in early trauma and neglect.
- Each addiction at its core is about needing to be seen, and yet feels invisible.
- Each addiction is a way of coping with the fear of vulnerability, rejection, and abandonment.
- Each addiction incorporates feeling both numb and hyperaroused from acting out.
- Each addiction is a form of “Russian Roulette,” filtering with self-destruction.
- Each addiction is a means of setting boundaries to maintain an identity.
