Facing the Shadow [3rd Edition]: Starting Sexual and Relationship Recovery

by Patrick Carnes

Overview

For all addicts, a moment comes when they realize they have a problem. There is sudden clarity—the insight that life has become unmanageable. That moment, however, is fragile. It is easily lost to craving and denial. People struggling with sex addiction find the old refrains creeping back into their thinking: My situation is different. . . . This will all blow over. . . . People are over-reacting to my behavior. Or, This is hopeless. I'm just too perverted to change.

"If any of those thoughts occur to you, you are exactly where you should be," notes Dr. Patrick Carnes in the introduction to Facing the Shadow. Starting with those gentle words, he guides readers through a series of reflections and exercises that pierce denial and light the path to healing from sex addiction.

Facing the Shadow, used by thousands of therapists with their clients, is based on the thirty-task model of recovery from addiction that forms the basis of Carnes's work. This newly revised and expanded edition takes readers through the first seven of those tasks, including specific performables that are built in to the exercises. The model also supports Twelve Step recovery programs.

Patrick Carnes, PhD, is a therapist, speaker, trainer, and author whose books include Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction, A Gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps, Contrary to Love: Helping the Sexual Addict, and Don't Call It Love: Recovery From Sexual Addiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780985063375
Publisher:	Gentle Path Press
Publication date:	12/01/2015
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	56,612
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Patrick Carnes: Dr. Patrick J. Carnes is a internationally known speaker on addiction and recovery issues. He is currently Senior Fellow and the director of the Gentle Path Program at the Meadows in Wickenburg, AZ. He is author of Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction (1992), Contrary to Love: Helping the Sexual Addict (1989), The Betrayal Bond: Breaking Free of Exploitive Relationships (1997), Open Hearts (1999), Facing the Shadow (2001), In the Shadows of the Net (2001), and Clinical Management of Sex Addiction (2002).

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: What is Real? Recognizing Self-Delusion
• Chapter 2: What is an Addiction? Understanding Addictive Behavior
• Chapter 3: What Are Your Behaviors? Understanding Compulsive Sex
• Chapter 4: What is a First Step? Accepting the Problem
• Chapter 5: What Damage Has Been Done? Responding to Change and Crisis
• Chapter 6: What is Sobriety? Managing Life Without Dysfunctional Sexual Behavior
• Chapter 7: What Has Happened to Your Body? Managing the Physical Impact of Your Addiction
• Chapter 8: Where is Your Support? Creating Your Support Systems
• Chapter 9 What Makes for Long-Term Success? Deepening Recovery for Profound Life Changes

What People are Saying About This

Claudia Black

"Facing the Shadow is an exciting "hands-on" process in which to experience healing. It will challenge the reader and offer the opportunity to embrace recovery."
-Claudia Black, Ph.D., Author of It Will Never Happen to Me
— Claudia Black, Ph.d.

Pat Mellody

"This workbook is typical of Patrick's work; it's innovative, practical, clearly written, and infused with wisdom acquired through much time and experience working in this field."
-Pat Mellody, Executive Director, The Meadows

Ralph Earle

"With innovative new research and experiential, reflective materials, this practical workbook will serve as an excellent tool both for the general public and therapists. Patrick Carnes remains the guru of the sex addiction field."
-Ralph Earle, Ph.D., Author of Lonely All the Time
— Ralph Earle, Ph.D.

Vicki Pevsner

"One of the great addiction researchers of our time, Dr. Carnes has been able to turn science into practical tools of recovery."
-Vicki Pevsner, CEO, Pine Grove Recovery Center

Robert Weiss

"This book should be primary reading for anyone seeking to understand addiction in the twenty-first century."
-Robert Weiss, MSW, CSAT, Author of Cruise Control
— Robert Weiss, MSW, CSAT