im a sex addict and after not compulsively acting on sexual urges for 2 months I relapsed and im now stuck in a cycle of on again off again several times a day. anyone have anything that helped them to fight the urge to do what feels helpful in the moment
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I am sorry, it is a process that for some people happens incrementally. Do not give up hope!
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I understand that cycle; I have been in a very similar cycle myself.
I can only speak for myself but in my case getting back to basics - meetings, daily sponsor calls, daily calls to people in my Sexaholics Anonymous group for check-ins - and learning to sit with my feelings and not suppress them: all that helped me get back on the ground.
My program is SA and there’s info here about it: www.SA.org (scroll down to the bottom and there’s an email you can reach out to, to ask to be connected to a group).
Don’t give up. It is possible.
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@Rosebud33 I can relate with you about the relapses, man oh man. I think i’ve probably relapsed at least 20 times, if not more. So don’t feel guilty or ashamed, you and I are both just learning how to do this
everyone is just learning how to do this
so forgive yourself, learn from your mistake, and move forward with hope and with a new plan
this is some sound advice and a great place to start over imho
wishing you the best
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@Rosebud33 Hey, I’m new here. I’m struggling with a similar topic, today i lapsed again.
I think it’s important to realize the difference between a lapse and a relapse - you’re not falling into your old lifestyle if you act on a compulsion once. The progress isn’t lost. It’s just the child in you wanting something and you teaching your brain to cope with in in an unhealthy way, just like I did. Your brain doesn’t know morale or any of that stuff, it knows what you taught it.
I don’t know how long you have been engaging in this disriptive pattern, for me it’s been 17+ years of consistant compulsive sexual behavior. This is not easy to go cold-turkey on. When lapses happen, let’s see them as a moment of growth. For me, when something like this happens I always dig deeper, since I do not want to go back and want to truly understand whats happening inside me.
For me, psychology is the only thing that helps me make sense of my psyche and behaviors. Try looking into abstinence violation effect, as I’m also doing right now.
Wish u the best in your journey
Yegor
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this is so so true and people do not realise how ingrained the addictive chemicals get into your body, mind and spirit. I was an addict since I was 11. And as my anxiety grew, my mental illness symptoms got worse, so did my addiction.
It takes time and one needs to keep going 
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