Discussing sex and porn addiction with a loved one requires empathy, candor, and open communication. This article looks at ways to approach the subject with care, set appropriate boundaries, encourage professional treatment, and set realistic recovery expectations, all of which will help to improve relationships and promote healing.

The field of sex addiction has been overly focused on the nature of sex addiction, how to describe and classify it and how to best treat the addict. In this process, there can be neglect of partners and spouses of sex addicts.

Partners and spouses of sex addicts are a profoundly and clinically traumatized population who are disenfranchised from adequate, informed care and ethical treatment. There are many, many partners and spouses who continue to be further harmed, confused, disoriented and re-traumatized by traditional co-addiction treatment interventions that focus on educating and helping partners with their “own disease” called co-addiction while ignoring the treatment of trauma.