Cybersex addiction and Internet infidelity are the two most common forms of Internet addiction. Clinicians are seeing a growing number of clients addicted to Internet pornography or couples experiencing trouble because of online affairs.
This course shows you specialized techniques in treating these new clinical problems. This course reviews the signs of Internet infidelity, how they develop, and how they differ from offline affairs. You will also learn specialized counseling techniques to help couples improve communication and repair broken trust after an online affair. As Internet sexuality is evolving as quickly as the technology itself, this course shows therapists how to diagnose cybersex addiction, the risk factors involved, the stages of development, and advanced techniques in treatment.
Most Common Facts About Cybersex Addiction And Internet Infidelity
- With the multitude and abundance of sexually explicit material online, addiction to online pornography has become the crack cocaine of the Internet.
- Internet Porn Statistics showed there are about 4.2 million pornographic websites constituting 12 % of the total websites. The pornographic pages constitute 372 million hits and daily pornographic search engine requests range to 68 million or 25 % of total search engine requests.
- Beyond online pornography, users can engage in sexually explicit adult chat rooms. Fantasy role-play rooms exist online with names like, “Hot Sex” “Bondage” or “Black Men for White Women”. With this type of access, cyberspace allows people to dabble, experiment, and explore sexual feelings and indulge in private fantasies unique to the online environment.
- Online sex is unique and qualitatively different than other forms of sexual behavior. The addict’s preoccupation with sexual arousal stems from his or her own imagination and fantasy history that once unlocked can be difficult to put back inside the bottle.
- Cybersex addiction can be hidden by overt signs of depression and anxiety, masking how much a client spends online. Therapists often overlook the symptoms of Internet addiction such that the disorder goes undetected, making related problems worsen.
- Over 60% of cybersex addicts have not previously suffered from a history of sexually addictive behavior until they discovered the Internet.
- Among many online addicts, cybersex is perceived as the ultimate safe sex method to fulfill sexual urges without fear of disease such as AIDS or herpes.
- Cybersex addiction can lead to divorce, marital separation, and job loss.
- Among couples, cybersex addiction and Internet infidelity are leading causes of divorce.
- Internet infidelity can impact older adults as well as new couples and cause the same kind of pain and devastation as if the affair occurred in the physical world.
- Treatment for cybersex addiction utilizes cognitive-behavioral techniques specialized to meet the needs of moderating appropriate computer use with a focus on abstinence from problematic online applications.