People can struggle with alcohol use disorder and sex addiction individually, but what about both? For some, both alcohol and sex addiction together can be a daily challenge—and even a vicious cycle that’s hard to overcome. But how are alcohol and sex addiction connected, and, if you’re struggling with both these addictions, what can you do to find healing?
Understanding Both Alcohol and Sex Addiction
As we explore alcohol and sex addiction together, it’s helpful to first understand each of these addictions separately. They are, in fact, serious disorders in their own right:
Alcohol Addiction, Explained
While drinking can be a common experience in our culture, it can become more than just something you do with friends on a night out. An alcohol addiction, also known as alcohol use disorder (AUD), alcohol abuse, or alcoholism, is an actual medical condition. It’s defined as the impaired ability to stop or control your alcohol use despite adverse social, occupational, or health consequences, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. When you have AUD, you become dependent on alcohol to function. Your alcoholism controls your life, taking priority over your family, work responsibilities, and even your own health.
For many people, alcohol becomes a way to self-medicate for stress, anxiety, or past trauma. As a coping mechanism, it can keep you going back to the bottle over and over again. And with an addiction, if you try to stop drinking, you may experience withdrawal symptoms, making it harder to quit. Common criteria for alcohol use disorder includes:
- Difficulty controlling your alcohol consumption
- Spending excessive amounts of time drinking or recovering from alcohol
- Strong cravings for alcohol
- Neglecting responsibilities at work, home, or in school
- Needing increased amounts of alcohol to feel the same effects
Sex Addiction, Explained
Sex addiction, also known as hypersexual disorder, is a form of compulsive sexual behavior that consumes your life. If you’re struggling with sex addiction, that means you’re compelled to perform sexual acts to achieve the same kind of “fix” that a drug addict or alcoholic would require, shares Healthline.com. Consequently, you may make major alterations in your life to fulfill your sexual desires, engaging in sex acts multiple times a day. You can even take on risky behaviors or put yourself in dangerous situations to feed your addiction.
As with alcohol addiction, a sex addict will continue to pursue their addiction in spite of the negative consequences. Below the surface, they’re using sexual behavior as a coping mechanism for trauma or stress. As a result, sex addiction may look like having sex with multiple partners on an ongoing basis, compulsive pornography consumption, or excessive masturbation. Other common signs of sexual addiction include:
- Obsessive, chronic sexual thoughts or fantasies
- Intense preoccupation with having sex, so much that it interferes with personal or work responsibilities
- The inability to stop or control your sexual thoughts or behaviors
- Feeling guilt or remorse after sexual activities
- Spending excessive time or energy on pursuing sexual acts
- Engaging in infidelity
Alcohol and Sex Addiction as Comorbidities Together
When you look at both alcoholism and sex addiction individually, you can begin to see some similarities. Both these addictions come from using sex and alcohol as self-medication tools for traumatic events like adverse childhood experiences. And behind the scenes, both addictions affect your brain in the same way.
Both sex and alcohol generate the release of dopamine within your brain, a chemical associated with pleasure and reward. As you drink alcohol or have sex, the dopamine released during these activities makes you want to repeat the activities again so you can experience more pleasure. Eventually, as you repetitively drink or have sex, your brain gets used to the continuous dopamine rush you experience, so you crave these activities more and more, leading to addiction. Once you get to the point where you have both an alcohol and sex addiction, these conditions together are called comorbidities.
A Vicious, Ongoing Cycle
With alcohol and sex addiction, both conditions generate a vicious cycle in your life. As you consume large amounts of alcohol, it reduces your inhibitions and ability to make good decisions. This coincides with the alcohol myopia theory, which states that alcohol consumption makes you mentally short-sided. As a result, you’re less aware of the consequences of your actions, leading you to make poor decisions like engaging in impulsive and harmful sexual behaviors. So the more you drink, the easier it gets to pursue your sex addiction.
Yet sadly, as you sober up and grapple with your sexual behaviors and actions, guilt and shame usually follow. So you drink more alcohol to cope with these unpleasant feelings, putting you back to where you started in the first place. The struggle with two difficult, chronic addictions continues—unless you can get specific help that addresses both conditions simultaneously.
Why Dual Diagnosis Treatment Matters
When you’re dealing with comorbidities like alcoholism and sex addiction, you can’t address each condition one at a time. If you do, the untreated condition only gets worse—and may even negate the progress you’re making with the other. That’s why you need to partner with a dual diagnosis treatment facility that can help you overcome both your conditions all at once.
At Integrative Life Center in Nashville, TN, our dual diagnosis treatment team partners with you to address both alcoholism and sex addiction simultaneously. With a program personalized to your unique needs, we can help you find lasting healing and reclaim your life. To learn more, contact us today.
