“…Sex and love addiction is not about either love or sex. It’s a desperate search for connection, belonging, and love that gets distorted into control, fear and shame.” -Kelly McDaniel, Ready to Heal: Breaking Free of Addictive Relationships #LoveAddiction
Alex Katehakis, Ph.D., LMFT
@alexkatehakis.bsky.social
Founder of Center For Healthy Sex | Public Speaker | Author | Certified Sex Therapist | Certified Sex Addiction Therapist https://linktr.ee/alexkatehakis?utm_source=linktree_admin_share
We can only perceive in others the qualities we have perceived in ourselves, and what we haven't worked through will be worked out on others. #mirrorofintimacy
Learning to tolerate the intimacy that attachment demands is part of healthy loving and eroticism. #sexaddiction #loveaddiction #attachment
Obsession is what keeps us from experiencing the difficult emotions that lie underneath the ruminations. Feelings such as: • Grief • Loneliness • Emptiness • Shame • Fear • Anger
Love addicts often loop, repeat, overshare, and jam unneeded words into a sentence. Predictably, love avoidants play language like hide-and-seek. Today, find your own meaning first, then say what you mean, simply. #loveaddiction #loveavoidant
Denial is an insidious habit that keeps us from learning painful truths. When we deny any part of our selves—past or current abuse, sexual identity—we split ourselves into shards. This splitting is the life-force of addiction, essential for it to grow, metastasize & suffocate us.
Love addicts often loop, repeat, overshare, and jam unneeded words into a sentence. Predictably, love avoidants play language like hide-and-seek. Today, find your own meaning first, then say what you mean, simply.
With exercises, practical tips, and true stories of individuals and couples who have been successful on their path, Erotic Intelligence is helpful for those in recovery as well as for those who love them.
Few interior personal states bear more external social weight than virginity. It's telling that we lose virginity rather than gain sexuality by our initial sexual experience.
Today notice when and how you use the words 'Always' and 'Never' in conversation, and try to find more exact, realistic terms to describe what you're experiencing.
We cannot regain sexual health—our sexuality—unless we take steps to create the improved conditions that will imprint our brains with healthy patterns.
Few interior personal states bear more external social weight than virginity. It's telling that we lose virginity rather than gain sexuality by our initial sexual experience.
How do you practice empathy in your relationships?
Sobriety and recovery often seem interchangeable terms, but are in fact very different. Sexual sobriety means ceasing to act out unhealthy sexual behaviors, while recovery means recapturing one's sexual health.
Register for free via the link in bio to explore what scares you about sex, sexual insecurities and what to do when shame makes an appearance.
This 50-minute workshop will provide the s*x addiction basics: Tools, Hope, and a Path Forward An introduction into compulsive s*xual behaviors, treatment options & recovery tools/resources. Online | Wednesday, September 10th | 12pm Pacific Call 424-391-3355 to register! #addictionrecovery
Studies have shown that those who receive "sex ed" actually wait longer to have sex, refuting the feverish notion that information leads to indulgence. Rather, information is empowerment. #sexeducation
Since you are solely responsible for your experience, it's healthy to be able to communicate what feels good and what could feel better. When you truly connect with your own erotic feelings and sensations, giving pleasure will begin to feel like receiving pleasure. #eroticintimacy #healthysex
What does it really mean to live your best sex life? Whether you're healing from trauma, navigating intimacy challenges, or simply curious to learn more about your desires, this workbook offers an affirming path toward greater connection with yourself and others. Now available on Amazon.
Join me on Monday, August 4th for a free and interactive webinar that will explore fantasy and orgasm challenges!
Living a life of secrets and lies doesn't allow love and sexuality to flourish but, instead, suffocates them.
What does consent mean to you? Do you have a clear definition when it comes to sex? Join me on Monday, July 14th at 12pm Pacific for a free webinar event where we'll explore the topic of CONSENT from my workbook: What Turns You On? Link in bio to register! #consent #healthysex
HEALTHY SEX: You have to decide what is and isn't healthy for you depending on your past, what you know about yourself today, and what safely brings you pleasure. #MirrorOfIntimacy
Boxes marked "male" and "female" are too primitive to contain the limitless flowering of human sexuality. #HappyPride #LGBTQIA2S #GenderDiverse
If you’ve discovered a partner’s sexual secrets or infidelity, you may be feeling shattered, confused, & alone. The Partners Betrayal Trauma Intensive at CHS offers a powerful 5-day program to help you begin making sense of what’s happened & start reclaiming your voice, boundaries, & stability.
Our constitutional freedoms of expression give us the right literally to take to the streets-to demonstrate-when some concern moves us passionately. When we "walk the walk," we get on our feet and prove our desire to make change happen by showing people around us that we mean business.
Manipulation denotes a dark desire to control others through deception, coercion and exploitation. This selfish skill takes over when a lover won't conform to our expectations. Our only path out is to embrace wholehearted honesty.
Be careful not to compare yourself and your partner to images. If you watch pornography, make sure it’s additive to your experience and your psyche, not degrading or debilitating to your sexuality or to your self.
Patterns: You can train your brain to reset its patterns. Pick a simple goal such as exercising, deep breathing, or feeling your feelings, and spend just ten minutes a day in gentle practice in order to repattern. #MirrorOfIntimacy
Sexual energy is a creative force in our lives and contributes to the well-being of all--meaning that when you're vitally engaged and living a full life, others around you feel it and can be inspired to do the same.