Men and women have these fears to begin with and they re perfectly natural. In fact, it s part of the recovery process. As for the meetings, how can you discuss your intimate or sordid, or exciting, or horrific details in a roomful of strangers? You had a hard enough time getting used to talking about it to your therapist during treatment. Sometimes the term is used synonymously with sex offender, and although the two terms can certainly coexist, they can also be mutually exclusive. Many people think a sex addict is that creepy-looking person they tend to avoid, the person who is unsuccessful in pursuit of relationships, the social outcast, the person without means and resources, or the person with the corny pickup lines in bars. Table of Contents The Neuroscience Behind Sex Addiction Neuroscience shows us that there is little difference in the physical or chemical changes in the pleasure and control centers of the brain, whether the addiction is from a chemical or an experience. Neurosurgeon Dr. Donald L. Hilton Jr. states, It is imperative that we treat pornography and sexual addiction with the respect accorded any drug addiction, for as we shall see, that is precisely what it is. " Replacing Shame The work done that day underscores the importance of relieving the burden of shame from the recovering sex addict. No matter how hurtful the past has been or how strong the current desire to act is, the addict needs to understand that their behavior came from an attempt to cope with unmanageable circumstances. We have not yet been perfected and freed once and for all from temptation to look at porn. But the exciting thing for a Christian is that the already means we can live confidently that the not yet will certainly happen. 1 John 3:2-3 says: Dear friends, we are God s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. This, in turn, may manifest as reckless or out-of-control sexual behaviors. Once the manic state is over, however, the individual may feel shame or remorse for their actions, exacerbating symptoms of depression. This, in turn, may lead to subsequent acting out behavior. For some people, there are specific triggers which cause the onset of manic episodes.