Only purchase if you are a mental health professional

This book is not written for the lay person dealing with this issue, but rather for the mental health professional. The "evaluation" pages are helpful but that was about it. I highly recommend, "Out of the Shadows".

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An excellent and thorough treatment of sexual addiction

This is a very comprehensive book on the mechanisms of sexual addiction. It is direct and thorough, with lots of detail on the dynamics of this disorder and the does a good job of describing the disorder at the individual and systems levels.

I agree with the reviews below that this particular book might be a bit much for someone who is caught in the midst of early recovery sexual addiction and the attendant self deception that accompanies it. However, for someone well into recovery it offers much in terms of understanding this disorder at a deeper level.

This is a very good book for therapists considering different approaches to treating sexual addiction. Patrick Carnes is not shy about presenting his point of view and he is certainly an authority in this field.

I have also read Out of the Shadows by the same author and preferred this for my purposes in understanding sexual addiction. However, I think the two books speak to different audiences and both have value. Out of the Shadows is more appropriate for a sexual addict in recovery or for people trying to get a general understanding of sexual addiction.

My favorite book on this topic is Women, Sex and Addiction by Kasl. Her focus is on women, but there is a lot of good general information, case studies and explanations. However, it lacks the rigorous treatment of the disorder from a systems approach as well as the various treatment options. It does, however, include spiritual aspects of the problem and presents the topic in a very compassionate way. It also includes a lot of good information on sexual codependence

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Far more than meets the eye

For me it would have been more difficult to appreciate this book had I not read "Out of the Shadows." I had purchased these books over ten years ago but only read them within the past few months. One of the great values of Carnes approach is his no wholes barred, stratight on approach to addiction and the role that sexual addiction plays. There is nothing wishy-washy in his approach to the dilemma, nor is there anything apologetic about his criticisms (i.e. limitations) of AA and common theraputic practices. To me he is entirely convincing which speaks for his clear understanding of addiction that adds for the breakdown of social or societal illusions and delusions. I just wish he took more seriously what he refers to as stage one addictions to which he does concede some degree of (to me mostly unjustifiable) normalcy and acceptance based on social norms. Aside from that, it is simply an outstanding book.

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