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A website for Jews struggling to maintain their moral purity in today's world
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Four Types of Therapy
 

1. A competent therapist can provide Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis, Meditation & Counseling (click here for more info). Psychotherapy may be in order for someone who has become seriously addicted.

2. Group Therapy (click for more info). If you feel you are really hooked, joining a Sexaholics Anonymous group in your area can be a big help. It has saved many, many people from this and many other behaviors. For religious Jews who may be reluctant to join such groups, see our Telephone Hot-Line Page for a similar "Group Therapy" plan that's fully anonymous.

3. Rehabilitation. Discover rehab options on www.GentlePath.com - with Dr. Patrick Carnes

4. Self Therapy (click for more info)


Click here for an article by Dr. Sorotzkin exploring the causes behind sexual addictions and therapy methods for dealing with it.


 

www.lifestartnetwork.org  : Tap into a support system that offers information regarding individual, group, and family therapy for those who struggle with pornography and sexual addictions.

 

www.sanon.org : S-Anon International Family Groups World Service Office at (800) 210-8141 or (615) 833-3152, You can also e-mail them at sanon@sanon.org for helpful guidelines.

 

www.nefesh.org : Search for a competent therapist at in the privacy of your home. Features an international network of Orthodox mental health professionals.

 

www.iitap.com a website of all certified sex addiction therapists trained by Patrick Carnes (www.GentlePath.com) and his association.

 

www.sash.net : Find a certified sex addiction therapist in your area. (SASH is the professional association for licensed therapists who work with sexual addiction. Please note though, that not all are trained and certified sex addiction therapists).

 


Dr / Rabbi Yitzchak Twersky from Jerusalem sums up his approach in helping people deal with these difficult issues:

Our sages call the fight with the evil inclination "Milchemes Hayetzer" which means "a war with one's inclination". They don't call it an "argument" or a "fight" with the inclination, but rather a "war". What we can learn from this, is that military tactics are necessary in the struggle with the evil inclination.

In a war, if the other side is stronger and you do battle face to face, you will surely lose. For example, the terrorists world-wide have learned this lesson well. They know that they stand no chance against the great armies of the west. So how are they so successful in creating upheavals and overthrowing great and powerful governments? The trick they use is Guerilla warfare. They don't do battle face to face with powerful armies. They know that if they did that they would be slaughtered. Instead, they learn their enemies weak points and where their enemy is going to be at set times, and they pre-empt them. They spy on the enemy, learn their tactics and fight them where the enemy is vulnerable. They ambush the enemy before they have a chance to realize what has happened. That is their secret to success.

The same theory applies to fighting the evil inclination. He is stronger than us, and if we fight him head on we don't stand a chance. Instead we need to employ Guerilla tactics. We start by asking ourselves, "how has the evil inclination/addiction been so successful until today? How does he get me to fall? In what ways does my mind think in the various situations that I find myself in? In what habitual ways have I learned to scan my surroundings?  How is my mind used to thinking and processing information? In which scenarios does it happen the most, in what moods am I in when it happens, in what situations do I start to slip?"

Once we learn the way the evil inclination works with us, we can start to pre-empt him. We can prevent him from fighting us head on. Instead, we start to realize how he has been so successful until now and in what ways he used to get us to fall, and we start to avoid those situations. We can already predict the way our minds will think in given scenarios, and we can be ready for it. We learn to make fences for ourselves to avoid head-on fights.

This is a powerful approach to winning this difficult battle and often requires a good therapist to help a person work this all out. But just knowing the secret to ultimate success is already a start on the journey to winning this battle.