The Physical, Mental, and Emotional Effects of Internet Addiction
Have you noticed? You clicked away from whatever it was you’ve been doing for hours. Probably because you know. You know that internet addiction is getting in your way. Internet addiction is interfering with your real, offscreen, offline life. It seemed harmless at first. A necessary part of modern life. But now your dedication to the Internet is messing with your health, the way you think, and how your feel about yourself and others. Like all addictions tend to do. And like any addiction, the scales are tipping further and further away from...
read moreThe Internet and You: A Normal Part of Everyday Life or Addiction?
Recently, a celebrity country singer and well-known camping store promoted “Disconnect Day.” An admirable effort to get people to “set aside the small screen to once again see the big picture.” The promotional TV ad invited audiences to tune in to each other. Enticing nature shots, montages of laughing families fishing on lakes, and the raspy chorus of Louis Armstrong’s “It’s a Wonderful World” played softly in the background. If you could drag your eyes away from your tablet, cell, or laptop to look at your TV, you really might be tempted....
read more5 Reasons Why Partners of Sex Addicts May Need PTSD Treatment
Joann doesn’t have a combat story. There was no tragic, terrifying accident. No natural disaster. In fact, she is so ashamed, she cannot even call it what it is. Even so, her trauma is real. Months after finding the salacious images on her husband’s tablet, she is still rehashing his disclosure, and his absurd assertion that it is all “no big deal.” The unexpected, life-altering event that turned her sense of security inside out, and her life upside down,really happened. Grief, loss, and the struggle to survive it were shockingly dumped in...
read moreWhy “Intimacy Anorexia” is More Than “Just Not in the Mood”
Why do sexually addicted people tell their partners that they are not in the mood? Isn’t sex the activity of choice? Why withhold it from the one person who genuinely wants to be with them? Because sometimes, sexual addiction actually reveals itself through a person’s repeated and prolonged state of not being in the mood for intimate love making. Sometimes, in a sex addicts mind, anxiety and fear accompany appropriate sex and real love. Sometimes, for some people, to be safe means intimacy during sex must be avoided. To feel powerful,...
read moreSex Addiction: Take These Steps to Recognize and Overcome Denial
When you’re addicted to sex, you become pretty good at deception. You can’t tell the truth. You won’t. Not to anyone, especially yourself. Why? Because sex addiction blinds you. You willingly close your eyes to a brewing storm of consequence and emotional pain. Your sexual cravings are the only truth that counts, and you deny the depth and harm of it all. The fact is your sexual addiction requires you to take specific action– difficult, but necessary action–to help you see and admit how destructive your behavior has become. Dealing with...
read moreThe Link Between Internet Addiction and Self-esteem
It’s hard to give up the Internet. Really hard. Our society is becoming increasingly tethered to its influence, power, and speed. Our exposure occurs earlier and more pervasively, as everything from up-to-the-minute news to social media to porn compete for our attention. If you find yourself addicted, it’s not difficult to see how you got there. But at what cost to who you really are? How do Internet addiction and self-esteem connect to affect you? Internet assisted escape from yourself: Can you resist the lure to lose yourself in web-induced...
read moreCan Your Relationship Recover After Sex Addiction Disclosure
Sex addiction is big. Big enough to drive a permanent wedge between you and your partner. Big enough to do lasting emotional damage if you don’t make serious efforts to turn things around. Once it’s out in the open, there will be hurt. Anger. There will be questions. Fears. Early on, you’ll probably ask yourselves, and maybe each other, “Is it over?” Recovery may seem impossible. But, as reality and acceptance set in, you might wonder something else, “Can we recover?” Is there any way to salvage all the time, effort, and trust you poured into...
read moreUnderstanding Intimacy Anorexia
Is your marriage the loneliest place in the world for you? Or do you resist needing your spouse at all? Do you long to be loved, but live with neglect? Or do you continually guard your heart from a partner who is exhausted from trying to unlock it? Your relationship may be suffering from intimacy anorexia. What is intimacy anorexia? Intimacy anorexia is a destructive relationship pattern that involves one partner’s practice of actively withholding intimacy. Depravation may occur emotionally, spiritually, and sexually. This pattern can be...
read moreThe Mental Health & Addiction Center would like to welcome Bassie Gugenheim, LSW to the practice.
Bassie will primarily be working with the spouses of those suffering from addiction. Bassie is a licensed social worker in the states of New Jersey and New York and a graduate of Adelphi University whose special interest is the treatment of complex PTSD and relational trauma. She has received training in a number of different trauma treatment modalities and uses a combination of psycho-dynamic, cognitive behavioral and experiential approaches in her work. Bassie’s genuine care and belief in the inherent goodness and abilities of every...
read moreFighting Addiction & Anxiety? Take These Steps to Cope
Four ways to find relief It seemed like a way to cope with the fear. A shot, a hit, or a long drag of something numbing and mind altering. To provide some escape from constant worries and sleepless nights. More clicks on more websites, more porn, more sex. To find relief from the worst-case scenarios around every corner and the panic in your chest. It all seemed like a ticket to a ride far away from the anxiety that you just couldn’t shake. But now you’ve got two problems. Two battles to fight. Anxiety and addiction. A cycle of out of control...
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