Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.
Addictions (of all types) are typically caused by a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors. For instance, a mixture of genetic predisposition, addicted parents, childhood trauma, and early exposure to an addictive substance or behavior occurs relatively often, creating a witch’s brew of ongoing life problems – not just addiction, but numerous other emotional and psychological issues. If early-life sexual trauma (either overt or covert) is part of the mix, the odds of sexual addiction vs. another addiction are greatly increased. Unfortunately, knowing what has caused our addiction does not in any way help us to establish and maintain sobriety. Longer-term, dealing with these issues is certainly helpful, but early in recovery the ‘why’ of addiction is mostly irrelevant.
Task for Today
Stop worrying about why you are addicted. Focus instead on what you’re going to do about that fact.