While your loved one is an
admitted patient at Gentle
Path at The Meadows, contact will be limited. However, Gentle
Path at The Meadows offers opportunities for families to interact and
come together in the healing
and recovery process during family
week. Families coming to Wickenburg, Arizona for Family Week are
responsible for their own lodging, reservations and cancellations.
To
inquire about lodging please contact the Wickenburg Chamber of
Commerce at 928-684-5479.
Start Your
Journey Today
Gentle
Path at The Meadows, located in Wickenburg, Arizona, provides an
intensive, experientially based 45-day treatment program for men with
the complex issues of sexual addictions.
We are a Behavioral Health
Inpatient Facility with 28 beds, providing the highest level of care
dedicated exclusively to men suffering from sexual
addictions. We are accredited by The Joint Commission which
demonstrates our ongoing commitment to safe, high quality care, and
treatment. Patients can be assured that they will receive outstanding
care at Gentle Path at The Meadows.
In
a safe and nurturing community composed of their peers, men are
guided on their journey of recovery by examining the underlying
causes of addiction and co-occurring disorders. The goal is for these
individuals to gain the courage to face difficult issues, including
grief and loss; heal
from emotional trauma; and become accountable for their own feelings,
behaviors, and recovery. Visit
us here or feel free to phone us at 866-811-8265.
By Cassandra Rustvold, LMSW, MEd, CSAT; Trauma Therapist at Gentle Path at The Meadows
When patients hear the words “Somatic Experiencing™” they often have one of two common responses:
1. This is some new age, woo-woo gimmick, or
2. I have no idea what that is.
Generally, after some basic education on the scientific foundations
of the approach to healing trauma, patients are open to trying it.
Two of the most difficult barriers that have to initially be
addressed is the notion that trauma can include anything that is
perceived as a threat to the survival of the individual; traumatic
responses can result from situations that are not literally
life-threatening (like car accidents and violent crime). That is because
trauma exists primarily in the nervous system of the body versus the
person’s thinking mind.
In my use of Somatic Experiencing™ approaches with men struggling
with sexual addiction, I have been struck by their struggles with
emotional awareness, presence, and ability to find natural states of
calm and relaxation. Below I examine how each of these three skills can
be addressed with a mind-body modality, like Somatic Experiencing™.
Regulating the Nervous System
Two decades ago, a new understanding of the impact of trauma and
stress on the automatic nervous system took the medical and
psychological fields by storm. We learned that when trauma occurs and
the nervous system becomes overwhelmed, the body reacts just as much as
the mind, if not more so. This propelled us to examine the ways we
approach treating symptoms of trauma.
Dr. Peter Levine—who is also a Senior Fellow at The Meadows—developed
Somatic Experiencing™ as a way to help trauma survivors to
re-regulating their dysregulated nervous systems. As a result, they are
able to move beyond their chronic survival states of fight, flight,
and/or freeze.
Unconscious responses to traumatic events impact the way our bodies
and minds respond to and interpret even the most mundane of events
leaving us either in constant states of over-arousal (fight/flight) or
under-arousal (freeze). A wide array of nervous system dysregulations
and disorders can manifest from these responses: anxiety, depression,
over-intellectualization, gastrointestinal problems, catastrophizing
mindsets, shame, and impulsive behaviors, to name just a few.
During a Somatic Experiencing™ session, the practitioner acts as a
guide, helping the person to notice moments of deactivation and
discharge held neurological energy. This is done in a collaborative,
organic, and gentle manner by inviting the person to notice the
sensations in the body, connect with the environment, and become more
familiar with the experience of being in the present moment.
To see what a Somatic Experiencing™ looks like, watch this video of
Dr. Levine working with a military veteran who struggles with PTSD:
Focusing on the Present
An inability to be present in the here and now, a wandering mind, and
feelings of being disconnected from one’s body, are common experiences
for people who have experienced trauma or high levels of stress. When a
person’s nervous system operates continually from a place of survival
(fight/flight/freeze), anticipating the future and ruminating on the
past are typical forms of dissociation that transport the person away
from their current experience.
During a Somatic Experiencing™ session, people are often amazed when
they discover how little of their attention is typically focused in the
present moment. By way of invitation, the practitioner guides the
individual towards noticing their environment, which has a direct impact
on calming the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system.
Additionally, directing attention to the felt sense (sensations
within the body) allows one to metaphorically switch off the part of the
brain that disconnects them from the here and now. This has been shown
to strengthen the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, thereby strengthening
the sense of self, control over impulses, and the ability to plan and
execute. Somatic Experiencing™ is somewhat similar to mindfulness
practices and meditation in this way.
Developing Emotional Awareness
In her new book, Sex Addiction as Affect Dysregulation, Alexandra
Katehakis explores in detail the ways that the inability to regulate
and/or experience one’s emotions is directly related to breaches in
healthy nervous system functioning. This is the cornerstone sexual
addiction.
One’s ability to understand their emotional state is largely
dependent on a sense of embodied awareness, which is one of the first
things lost when a nervous system becomes dysregulated. With people who
act out sexually, sex can become their main way of experiencing a
fluctuation in emotion. It may also be the only way they know how to
regulate and cope with their emotional upheavals.
Developing body awareness through Somatic Experiencing™ is one way to
access and strengthen emotional awareness. And, it has the added
benefit of helping the individual in treatment experience genuine
empathy.
Take Control from Sex Addiction
Men who struggle with sex addiction sometimes believe that it may be
impossible for them to overcome their impulses and stop their unhealthy
sexual behaviors. “I’m just a bad person. Nothing can be done,” they may
say.
But, sometimes, one’s inappropriate behavior is more a reflection of
the symptoms of nervous system dysregulation and less of a reflection on
their moral character. If you would like more information on overcoming
self-destructive sexual behaviors—multiples affairs, porn addiction,
compulsive masturbation, etc—please give us a call at 866-240-4931 or send us an email.
By Mandy McBride, RN, BSN, Gentle Path at The MeadowsDealing with addiction can be especially challenging around the holidays not only for the addict, but also for the family.
Two years ago on Christmas Day, I found myself driving with my daughter and son to pick up my husband who had been in the hospital several days for detox. After picking him up at the hospital, we drove about an hour away to drop him off at an inpatient facility for a 30-day program. I had brought a few presents with me for the kids to open in the car that day.
While this was a tough day for all of us, I would still consider it to be one of our best Christmases together. I am thankful and grateful for that time sacrificed during the holidays that year because it has helped to lead us to the lives we have today. My husband is now approaching two years sober and is planning on chairing the local NA meeting on Christmas Day this year.I do not regret any time that we spent away from each other while my husband was in treatment. The quality of our time together now is so much richer and more fulfilling thanks to his sobriety.
Holidays used to be a time of uncertainty for my family that often led to pain. Now I can honestly say that I look forward to them.
If you are considering coming to treatment, I would urge you not to delay this because of the holidays. If anything, let this time of year motivate you to not focus on how things have been, but how they could be. There is always going to be a holiday or event around the corner that we feel that we cannot miss.
As an addict or the family member of an addict, ask yourself if making a change to that one birthday, or that one Thanksgiving, or that one Christmas at home, is more important than changing your life.
Get Help for Sex Addiction Today
Families can feel a bit over-extended during the holidays. That can make the prospect of entering into treatment for trauma, addiction, eating disorders, and other mental health issues even more daunting.We hope to help ease a little bit of burden. Call us today for more information on our inpatient and outpatient sex addiction treatment programs, and ask about our free flight offer, available now until Dec. 31.
What thing comes to your mind
when you hear about the term Sex
Addiction?According
to you what is Sex
Addiction?You must
be thinking what a filthy or pervert term. No, it is not something
filthy or pervert, it is an addiction that could happen to anyone,
which can be easily cured. Sex Addiction is a continuous requirement
of sex, be it from others or self – giving pleasure. A Sex
Addict has an
obsession for following Compulsive
masturbation, indulging in pornography, having chronic affairs,
Dangerous sexual practices and sometimes Prostitution.
Any kind of addiction that
takes a toll over your daily routine and makes you vulnerable and
helpless can destroy you mentally, physically, financially and
socially as well. Sexual
addictionhas
destroyed many families that we can think of. Like drugs and alcohol,
it is habit forming makes a victim self – hating. The issues
related to sexual addiction includes:
Sexual compulsion:
Sexual indulgence becomes necessary for men such that they require
it like food.
Pornography addiction: The
cycle fromwatching
porn occasionally to regularly and forgetting daily routine.
Relationship addiction :
Where you
constantly feel need to be in relationship with one or the other
person and cannot survive in its absence
Sex addiction in young
adults: Some men
do self-exploration to know how good they are for their partners but
excessiveness of that becomes addiction resulting badly.
Thus,
The Gentle path at The Meadows is Sex
addiction treatmentcenter
that provides Counseling
for sex addiction. We
focus on individual solely and prepare the schedule for each one
differently. We keep it confidential and provide treatment for life.
You need not require any Sex
addiction help once
you leave our premises. Come to The Gentle path and get a lifelong
return for your one-time investment.
