Sex Addiction Treatment Facilities – How Do They Provide Care?
ProvideA sex addiction treatment facility is a place where sex addicts go when they require intensive rehabilitation for their addiction. Many carry names such as “facility,” “center,” or “institute,” and can be found throughout the United States and throughout the world. Some have been around since at least the 1980s and began as alcohol addiction treatment centers, then branched out to treat other forms of addiction, such as drugs, sex and gambling.
A comprehensive sex addiction treatment facility can offer inpatient and outpatient programs. Inpatient rehab generally involves periods of sexual abstinence and supervision that directs sex addicts towards therapy and other treatment programs. Patients may stay at the facility full time, or spend the bulk of their time there for a period of weeks.
These treatment facilities can also offer meeting space for therapy groups or individuals seeing a licensed therapist. Some are attached to universities or hospitals, and may, with a patient’s consent, conduct research on the addiction in order to hone treatment methods and understand the problem better. Compared to other aspects of human physiology, sexuality has been lightly studied and many areas are still poorly understood by the general public and even by some professionals drug addiction.
A person can be referred to a facility in a number of ways. They may decide their addiction is at a level where inpatient rehab is needed and seek the facility out themselves over the telephone or Internet. Facilities have screening processes designed to see if a person is in need of its services, and if not, can direct them to a better place. Many times a sex addict seeks out a therapist who will refer his or her patient to a treatment facility if the addiction is severe enough or causing immediate, damaging problems.
In the most severe cases, a person can be sent to a specialized treatment facility, or a facility with sex addiction treatment programs, as per a court order. Sadly many do not seek treatment for their addiction until after their behavior has run them afoul of the law. In some states, a court can assign a stay at such a facility as part of a required treatment program. For these patients, there is an added impetus to complete the program and do well, because the alternative can be incarceration.
Some insurance plans will cover the cost of a stay at a treatment facility. Depending on the facility, the cost can be a few hundred dollars per day, or more for the “higher end” locations. Some online facilities quote prices at around $37,000 per month.
It should be noted that not all experts agree on what sex addiction is, or that it can be called an addiction, or even that it exists. Critics of the addiction treatment industry claim it’s a booming business. With the high profile that addiction to sex has been given in recent years by celebrities and the media, it is understandable that more and more treatment centers and therapy centers are opening up. This is why it is important to be careful when looking at treatment facilities. Do some research on your own, talk to more than one physician, and make sure the facility you select has goal oriented programs that are not seeking long, expensive stays when they may not be necessary. Like any treatable ailment, people with this addiction need to be wary when seeking help and take an active role in their own recovery.