12 Similarities Between Sex Addiction & Eating Disorders

At Harmony Place Monterey we treat both Eating Disorders and Sexual Addiction in two separate tracks. This is how they are similar, but different:

  1. Overcontrol of a natural function eventually leads to out of control. Restriction leads to binging.
  2. Emotional dysregulation leads to poor affect tolerance, and anorexia from loneliness and shame leads to self-destructive restricting and binging.
  3. The absence of an integrated sense of self leads to a lack of self-cohesion and dissociated parts of self take executive control.
  4. Disorganized attachment in early infancy contributes to not being able to use self or others as a resource for self-soothing.
  5. Each addiction is a reenactment of core schemas related to shame, powerlessness, and disconnection.
  6. Whenever one’s in an addictive behavior, they are out of control but feel an illusion of control.
  7. The core issues of each have their origin in early trauma and neglect.
  8. Each addiction at its core is about needing to be seen, and yet feels invisible.
  9. Each addiction is a way of coping with the fear of vulnerability, rejection, and abandonment.
  10. Each addiction incorporates feeling both numb and hyperaroused from acting out.
  11. Each addiction is a form of “Russian Roulette,” filtering with self-destruction.
  12. Each addiction is a means of setting boundaries to maintain an identity.