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For many years prior to Alcoholics Anonymous there was little recovery for those who suffered from alcoholism and other addictions. With the beginning of AA, however, a program of recovery slowly and painstakingly developed that worked for many alcoholics. Over time the principles of AA have been applied to other addictions with significant success. As a result, there are several 12-step programs for sexual addiction and compulsion.

Research about recovery from sexual addiction has indicated that 12-step meetings are important for success. Those who do not attend 12-step meetings have a much more difficult time recovering, if they do at all. In many ways recovery from significant sexual addiction can be more difficult than recovering from some of the other addictions. The heavy prevalence of sexual abuse in the backgrounds of sex addicts is one reason. In addition, sexual addiction fundamentally involves a problem with intimacy, something important for successful recovery.

Twelve-step meetings have been the source of much public attention because they have helped many people. They offer the sex addict a means of social support that helps break isolation and lessen paralyzing feelings of shame. They also offer an opportunity for nonjudgmental accountability that can strengthen ones commitment to recover and to live with more day-to-day honesty and integrity. The meetings have their shortfalls, of course, as surely as do the individuals who attend them. Also, at any one point some meetings are going to be “better” than others. One cannot not expect perfection from meetings. However, individual meetings grow and change over time as do the 12-step organizations themselves.

People sometimes ask about whether both 12-step meetings and psychotherapy are needed, or if one replaces the other. For many sex addicts meetings alone are not going to be adequate for recovery, just as psychotherapy is typically not enough by itself for recovery. Research has indicated that it is important to include a period of psychotherapy with a therapist who is competent working with sexual addiction.

The different 12-step meetings listed below can have differences in philosophy or membership at times. Sexaholics Anonymous, for example, is more specific about what behaviors are acceptable for sex addicts, while Sexual Compulsives Anonymous often has a large percentage of gay members. Also, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous makes a special point of addressing “love addiction” as well as sex addiction, though all of the meetings address love addiction to some extent. For more information on love or relationship addiction go to the SLAA website.

Listed below are 12-step meetings for sex addiction that are national in scope. Some of the meetings are for friends and family members who have been affected by sex addiction. To find out about meetings in your area go to their website and contact them. The NCSAC national office does not keep a list of meetings and cannot take questions about meetings at any specific location.

12-Step Program Web Addresses:

Sex Addicts Anonymous - SAA http://www.sexaa.org/
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous - SCA http://www.sca-recovery.org/
Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous - SLAA http://www.slaafws.org/
Sexaholics Anonymous - SA http://www.sa.org/
Sexual Recovery Anonymous – SRA http://sexualrecovery.org/

For Family and Friends Web Addresses:

Recovering Couples Anonymous (for couples when one member of the couple goes to another 12-step group) http://www.recovering-couples.org/
Codependents of Sex Addicts (related to SAA) http://www.cosa-recovery.org/
S-Anon (related to SA) http://www.sanon.org/