Routledge International Handbook of Sexual Addiction

The concept of sexual addiction has gained increasing recognition in the academic and healthcare communities since the 1990s. It has also captured the attention of the media, where there has been much debate over whether it can truly be described as an addiction. What is certain is that many people struggle with out of control sexual behaviour, which takes over their lives and has harmful consequences for their relationships, careers and finances.

The Routledge International Handbook of Sexual Addiction brings together a comprehensive range of perspectives on sexual addiction from a worldwide selection of scholars and therapists. It sets out to define sexual addiction and to study its causes from a range of different psychological perspectives. A series of presentations of sexual addiction are outlined, including internet sexual addiction and the relationship between paraphilias and sex addiction. The handbook considers both individual and group treatment strategies, drawing on a wide range of approaches, including cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness and 12-step programmes. The book studies sex addiction in specific populations including women, adolescents and men who have sex with men. Finally, it considers some of the alternative discourses surrounding the concept of sexual addiction.

This is the first comprehensive reference book to bring together global viewpoints on advances in research, theory and practice in one volume. This handbook provides an essential guide for academics and students of psychotherapy, counselling, nursing, addiction, sexualities, social work and health and social care, as well as professionals in practice and in training working with sexual addiction and related issues.

Thaddeus Birchard is the founder of the Marylebone Centre. He has an MSc in psychosexual therapy and a doctorate in the treatment of hypersexual disorders. He is accredited by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies and is the founder of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity. He is the author of CBT for Compulsive Sexual Behaviour: A Guide for Professionals and Overcoming Sexual Addiction: A Self-Help Guide (both Routledge).

Joanna Benfield (MPhil) is a psychosexual therapist in private practice in London and France. She has a Diploma in Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy, and is a member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) and the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT).